Future of Newspapers

Innovation Opportunities
June 2014 Turin, Italy
Amy Webb: 3 Things
1. Digital Media Futurist. Founder + CEO of
Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency.
3. Trends for the World Association of Newspapers
and News Publishers. Three opportunities for
innovation within your organizations.
2. Online News Association. Former board of
directors, conference organizer.
Story
Your
Future
In three acts
Can you build a better thermostat?
1
Act One
In 2005, New Media Companies Barely Registered
Dont worry. Google needs journalism
more than consumers need Google.
But they were growing.....
courtesy of eTeknix
!2.34 billion
The nest: 3 things
1. Its very pretty.
2. Control the temperature.
3. Learns your behavior.
Consumers
Excited!
Climate
Activists
Excited!
90 Countries
How does this inform your
work as an editor or
publisher?
Google Calendar
Google Now
HUNGRY?
Google is the invisible information
layer we rely on more each day.
Soon, our society will not be able
to function without Google.
Must a product fail in order to
fulll its destiny?
How can newspapers
fulll their destinies in
the next 10 years?
(Segue for Act 2...)
Why This Matters
Your Future = Like Google, news
organizations must also become invisible
and visible information layers that we
cannot live without. What is your Nest?
Newspapers become
technology companies.
2
Act Two
Think about how news
content is distributed
The most
successful media
companies dont
produce any news
Acquisitions, Partnerships =
opportunity
webbmediagroup.com
Cue
($50 million)
virtual personal
assistant
PrimeSense
($345 million)
semiconductors
Topsy
($200 million)
analytics
Waze
($966 million)
crowdsourced
GPS navigation
Flutter
($40 million)
gesture
recognition tech
Boston
Dynamics
robotics

Nest Labs Inc
($3.2 billion)
connected home
DeepMind
Technologies
($650 million)
articial
intelligence
Wavii
($30 million)
natural language
processing
Nokia
($7.2 billion)
mobile phone unit
Yammer
($1.2 billion)
social networking
Skype
($8.5 billion)
telecommunications
Xobni
($40 million)
CRM
Qwiki
($50 million)
automated video
production
Tumblr
($1.1 billion)
blogging
Summly
($30 million)
news summarization
Oculus VR
($2 billion)
virtual reality tech
Instagram
($1 billion)
photo sharing
WhatsApp
($19 billion)
mobile instant
messaging
Bluen Labs
($80 million)
social analytics
TweetDeck
($40 million)
desktop client
Goodreads
social network
IMDB
movie database
Patch.com
majority stake transferred
to investment company
Hale Global
Who Owns What 10.0 The New Media Landscape in 2014
Newsweek
sold to IBT Media
Boston Globe
sold at a loss
Storyful
news aggregation
Dow Jones
news corporation
Myspace
sold at a loss
Size of bubble corresponds to the number of overall acquisitions and
partnerships. Examples are notable deals.
you can download
the full chart after
Historic Evolution
of a media company
highlights.....
Platform First Digital First Tech First
Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era
Single Platform
(newspaper, TV)
Traditional Platform (newspaper,
TV) + Web, Social and Mobile
Media Tech Stack
Focuses on legacy
media content
Focuses on multimedia content
Focuses on building/ acquiring
the tech that powers
multimedia content
Relies on traditional advertising,
word of mouth
and social obligations to
subscribe/ watch/ listen
Reacts to changes in
search algorithms
Anticipates and plans for
changes to search algorithms
Relies on traditional advertising,
word of mouth
and social obligations to
subscribe/ watch/ listen
Reacts to changes in
social media platforms
Anticipates and course-corrects
for major changes in social
media partners
Optimizes traditional content
creation workows
Optimizes digital content
creation workows
Optimizes all content
distribution workows
Develops content for the
legacy media channel
Develops content
for the device
Develops content for the
consumer experience
Customizes content via location
Customizes content
via responsive design
Personalizes content for
the individual consumer
Anticipates competition from
other media companies
Anticipates competition
from traditional and new
media companies
Anticipates competition from
external digital networks,
algorithms, content marketing,
search engine marketing
Monetizes the
platform it ofers
Monetizes the content
it is creating and its
platform oferings
Monetizes the technology,
processes, audience and
data it is creating
webbmediagroup.com
The Evolution of a Media Company
For each category above, plot your media company using this spectrum.
What does this tell you about your organizations future?
Platform First Digital First Tech First
Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era
Single Platform (newspaper, TV)
Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV)
+ Web, Social and Mobile
Media Tech Stack
Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia content
Focused on building/ acquiring the
tech that powers multimedia
content
Optimizes traditional news
workows
Optimizes digital content creation
workows
Optimizes all content distribution
workows
Develops content for the legacy
media channel
Develops content for the device
Develops content for the consumer
experience
Customizes content via location
Customizes content via responsive
design
Personalizes content for the
individual consumer
Monetizes the platform it ofers
Monetizes the content it is creating
and its platform oferings
Monetizes the technology,
processes, audience and data it is
creating
Case Study: VOX
Tech Stack
Denition:
Layers of components
used to create an
application or provide
a service.
Tech Stack
Tech Stack
Tech Stack
Newsroom Tech Stack
Voxs Media Stack

Platform for digital-native authoring

and distribution.

Native format for real-time news

coverage.

Liveblogging platform that uses

Amazons Cloudfront CDN in S3
requests.
Which helped Vox create a
new kind of digital
storytelling template
Cards
Google Now Cards
Glass Environment
Response to
smaller screen size
and desire for
sharable nuggets
Which is a bad
design environment
for longer NEWS stories
But! Cards are a good
design template
for NEWS explainers
Platform First Digital First Tech First
Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era
Single Platform (newspaper, TV)
Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV)
+ Web, Social and Mobile
Media Tech Stack
Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia content
Focused on building/ acquiring the
tech that powers multimedia
content
Optimizes traditional news
workows
Optimizes digital content creation
workows
Optimizes all content distribution
workows
Develops content for the legacy
media channel
Develops content for the device
Develops content for the consumer
experience
Customizes content via location
Customizes content via responsive
design
Personalizes content for the
individual consumer
Monetizes the platform it ofers
Monetizes the content it is creating
and its platform oferings
Monetizes the technology,
processes, audience and data it is
creating
digital rst tech rst
digital rst describes a
workow and an
integration that should be a
part of every journalism
operation.
Current News Story Dimensions
Digital LEGACY
mobile, web,
social, app,
database, etc.
newspaper, TV
broadcast, radio
broadcast
L
o
n
g
S
h
o
r
t
great UI design
a great experience
Consumer
Future Story Dimensions
App or HTML5?
Screen size?
Home location?
New location?
Work location?
Commuting?
At the gym?
Eating dinner?
Lean forward?
Lean back?
Driving?
Jogging?
Researching?
Looking for social
media posts?
Trending for her?
Will she engage?
New content
recommendation?
Why This Matters
Your Future = Your news organization
must transition into tech a organization
that also produces exceptional content.
You must build or acquire, and develop
true partnerships.
News organizations must anchor
our future tech communities.
3
Act Three
Conuence of...

Research universities

R&D labs (government, commercial)

Highly educated workforce

Wealth (venture capital, angels)

Highly engaged businesses who want to

innovate, collaborate and test new ideas
Tech & Innovation Hubs Worldwide
They just lack a
community anchor
.....and a Niche
London
new global hub
for
cyber security

Report on stories

Adapt tech for storytelling

Near-Term Guardian Benets...
Long-Term Guardian Benets...

Smarter, tech savvy workforce

R&D for news products

Extended collaborations as
tech diaspora spreads
London
new global hub
for
bitcoin

Report on stories

Opportunity to own this hot

topic
Near-Term FT Benets...
Long-Term Guardian Benets...

New FT prot center R&D

Experiment with new payment

systems for FT news products

Extended collaborations as
tech diaspora spreads
Why This Matters
Your Future = The future of news
innovation hinges on creative partnerships.
Newspapers should be the tech anchors in
their communities, as well as a trusted
source of news.
Epilogue
How to future-proof
your newsroom
Does your project pass our F.U.T.U.R.E. Test?
Will your new project, acquisition or digital strategy endure as technology and consumer
behavior evolve? Is it future-proofed and able to withstand changes both inside your
organization and in the marketplace? This F.U.T.U.R.E. Test should be used to assess your
projects strengths and weaknesses, regardless of its size or scope.
Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible
Foundation. Do you
have support from key
stakeholders within
your organization?
Can your project
continue to function
and evolve, even as
key stakeholders
transition away from
your organization? Do
you have a reasonable
amount of time,
money and desire to
shape, launch and
maintain your project?
Have you set initial
benchmarks to
measure levels of
support? Are your
short-term and long-
term timelines
realistic, given your
available resources?
Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible
Unique. Is your unique
value proposition clear
to your customer,
whether thats another
business or an
individual user? Is your
IP difcult to
replicate? As
competitors emerge,
how will you help
others continue to
understand what
diferentiates you?
Track. Do you have
complete access to
the data your project
is creating? Given your
organizations current
or planned structure,
are you able to set
meaningful
benchmarks and to
measure outcomes?
Can you use that data
for reliable analysis for
customer retention
and acquisition, as you
scale and for your
long-term
development cycle?
Urgent. Does your
project communicate
a sense of urgency,
both to your staf and
your intended
audience? Will there
be continued demand
for your project in the
marketplace? Can you
create demand within
your customers? Will
customers see your
project as
indispensable and
invaluable, even as the
marketplace evolves
and new competitors
emerge?
Recalibrate. Can your
project evolve along
with its intended
customer segments as
they upgrade their
personal/ corporate
technology? Do you
have a realistic budget
to continue along a
reasonable
development cycle?
Do you and your staf
have the time to
comprehensively
evaluate the project
every two or three
months, in order to
make adjustments? Do
you and your staf
have the desire to
continue working on
the project after it has
launched?
Extensible. Does your
project rely on third-
party software, tools,
devices, content or
code that you and
your staf cannot
control? Will you be
able to recalibrate
your project internally,
or must you rely on
another company to
implement necessary
changes? Can your
project still operate
independent of device,
software or network
upgrades? As
consumer tastes and
preferences change,
can you adapt your
project without
pivoting from your
original idea?
Thanks!
webbmediagroup.com hello@webbmediagroup.com @webbmediagroup 267-342-4300