This monthly newsletter is focused on sharing cutting edge stories, trends, topics, and social media posts with unique perspectives and new ideas that have the potential to translate to opportunities for news and magazine publishers. Stories and posts we share might cover topics as wide-ranging as Web3, podcasts, startups and technology, online advertising, and more. Click the links below to access current and past editions. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you’re seeing out there that you see as up and coming for the news industry. Drop me a line at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org.

Rebecca Frank, VP, Research & Insights, News/Media Alliance

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Current Issue:

June 2023 – This month, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about one particular essay about the “creator economy.” To those of us working in “old media,” the idea of a single person, armed with a brain, a laptop, and the ability to distribute to the whole internet has long been positioned as “the future.” But in this insightful piece, Renée DiResta examines how the conditions of our current era – technological and reader attention-based – have led so many individual creators to become what DiResta calls “propagandists.” The piece is worth reading for anyone who believes in the value of fact-based news, and also the business model that supports it. Keep reading.

Past Issues:

May 2023 

April 2023

March 2023

February 2023

January 2023

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

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News publishers and magazines have become highly experimental and deeply innovative businesses. We have larger audiences than ever — but also need to create new products and distribution systems to drive a better future. This newsletter is designed to highlight interesting ideas and provoke some thinking. Send suggestions to david@newsmediaalliance.org.

To receive ‘Expanding the View’ in your email inbox each month, click here to subscribe.

What I’ve been reading this month:

For Creators, Community is the New Follower Count (The Washington Post)
Community apps for audiences of influencers and other creators may be the future of engagement with content.

Lewis Black Sues Pandora for $10 Million Over Copyright Infringement (The Verge)
As Spotify continues to grow, comedians continue to sue for copyright infringement.

Why Republicans Stopped Talking to the Press (New York Magazine)
“Sitting down with the mainstream press has come to be seen by Republican primary voters as consorting with the enemy, and approval by the enemy is the political kiss of death.” – As we move deeper into 2022 election season, a shift in Republican strategy.

Opinion: I Stopped Reading the News. Is the Problem Me — or the Product? (The Washington Post) – A take on news avoidance, from deep within the news industry.

10 Key Takeaways for News Subscription Managers from the 2022 Digital News Report (What’s New in Publishing) – An overview of some innovative findings from the 2022 Reuters Institute report.

Meet the Lobbyist Next Door (WIRED)
Is your favorite influencer actually a lobbyist?

How Software Is Stifling Competition and Slowing Innovation (The New York Times)
“There is an advantage to software that economists haven’t really reckoned with yet. Software isn’t accelerating creative destruction today. Software is suppressing it.”

Leaked Videos Show Disney Is the Biggest Ad Tech Giant You’ve Never Heard Of (VICE)
Might the future of ads and media look a lot like the past?

Web3/Blockchain:

As more and more groundbreaking discussions about Web3 and blockchain are taking place every day, I’m dedicating a section of this newsletter to the topic and will highlight the most interesting ones each month.

Hype is a Weaponized Form of Optimism (Nieman Lab)
A contrarian take on emerging technologies.

Developer Turns ‘Future of Gaming’ Talk into a Surprise Attack on Convention’s NFT and Blockchain Sponsors (PC Gamer)
How one developer fought back against the domination of the gaming industry by crypto.

Podcasts:

The Mid-Century Media Theorists Who Saw What Was Coming  (The Ezra Klein Show)

Notable in the Twitter-verse:

Check out these accounts for more on these and other emerging topics:

Gregg Fernandes: @GreggFernandes
Steve Lohr: @SteveLohr
Amanda Ripley: @amandaripley
Ben Wofford: @BenWoffordDC
Taylor Lorenz: @TaylorLorenz

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The post Expanding the View – July 2022 appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

News publishers and magazines have become highly experimental and deeply innovative businesses. We have larger audiences than ever — but also need to create new products and distribution systems to drive a better future. This newsletter is designed to highlight interesting ideas and provoke some thinking. Send suggestions to david@newsmediaalliance.org.

To receive ‘Expanding the View’ in your email inbox each month, click here to subscribe.

What I’ve been reading this month:

The Biggest Change in Media Since Cable Is Happening Right Now (Politico)
Following the demise of CNN+, many predicted an end to streaming digital news platforms. But Politico’s Jack Shafer sees another story. 

An Inflection Point Year for TV Viewing as Cord-Cutters Dominate (CivicScience)
Research firm CivicScience breaks down the trends related to cable “cord cutting” and digital streaming, and makes some predictions for the future.

Google Agrees to Pay for Beefed-Up Wikipedia Service (Courthouse News Service)
While Google is involved in international negotiations regarding paying for news, it has recently agreed to pay the Wikimedia Foundation for access to Wikipedia articles.

Journalism Has Suddenly Taken Off on TikTok: What Publishers Need to Know (Press Gazette)
With the rise of TikTok as a social media platform and cultural juggernaut, some news brands are breaking through to global audiences of the app’s younger users.

Popular Science Owner Recurrent Ventures Raises $300 Million in Blackstone-Led Round (The Wall Street Journal)
A bet on media.

Facebook’s Current State of Decomposition (Garbage Day)
Deep diving into the most recent Facebook Widely Viewed Content report and what it can tell us about the current state of the company and its prospects.

Web3/Blockchain:

I’ve been thinking a lot about crypto and Web3 – and there have been a lot of diverse opinions this month:

The Pivot to Web3 Is Going to Get People Hurt (VICE)
Looking into who stands to benefit from the Web3 “revolution.”

Cautionary Tales from Cryptoland (Harvard Business Review)
Part of HBR’s extensive series on Web3, blockchain and crypto, looking at some of the riskier elements.

Paradise at the Crypto Arcade: Inside the Web3 Revolution (WIRED )
A journalist went to a crypto conference to understand the mindset and found himself starting his own DAO.

In Defense of Crypto(currency) (A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering)
A cryptographer’s deep dive into the fundamentals that underlie cryptocurrency, while acknowledging many of the field’s flaws.

Notable in the Twitter-verse:

Check out these accounts for more on these and other emerging topics:

Cecilia Kang: @ceciliakang
Catherine Perloff: @catherineperlo1
Feli Carrique: @felicarrique
News Product Alliance: @newsproduct
Today in News Tech: @TodayinNewsTech

From @acfou:

1 in 5 CTV ads shown when TV is off

"Some 17% of ads shown on televisions connected through a streaming device—including streaming boxes, dongles, sticks and gaming consoles—are playing while the TV is off." https://t.co/Kq6xOX9N3S

— Dr. Augustine Fou (@acfou) June 13, 2022

From @ScottBrodbeck:

I’ve been doing this local news thing for 12+ years at this point and for the first time I think I know how it’s going to shake out

— Scott Brodbeck (@scottbrodbeck) June 1, 2022

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This is my monthly reading list of stories about emerging business trends that I thought were interesting and are designed to make you think. I hope you enjoy – and if you see any up-and-coming trends for the news industry that you’d like to share, drop me a line at david@newsmediaalliance.org.

To receive ‘Expanding the View’ in your email inbox each month, click here to subscribe.

What I’ve been reading this month:

How the Pandemic Made Algorithms Go Haywire (Slate)
Algorithms have entered every market, industry and sector. This story looks at what happened when healthcare got involved.

Forget Personalisation, It’s Impossible and It Doesn’t Work (MarketingWeek)
For years, personalized marketing has been seen as the holy grail of the field. Should it be?

What Problem Blockchains Actually Solve (The Solution Space)
If recent news about cryptocurrency has you scrambling to find more about the fundamentals, this is a great place to start.

Publishers’ Secondary Market Strategy: What Happens When the Monetary Appeal of NFTs Isn’t Enough?  (Digiday)
For anyone considering using NFTs to raise money, the key question is “then what?”

The 4 Hurdles Micropayment Platforms Can’t Overcome (Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter)
Micropayments have been promised as a solution to the news industry’s woes for years. Why haven’t the promises panned out?

Notable in the Twitter-verse:

Check out these accounts for more on these and other emerging topics:

Alex Kantrowitz: @Kantrowitz
Keach Hagey: @keachhagey
Will Oremus: @WillOremus
Tech Policy Press: @techpolicypress
Julien Genestoux: @julien51

From @AKGrenier:

@netflix DON'T MESS THIS UP!

You have one of the most unique opportunities to execute monetization on a global content platform ever.

DON'T TAKE A GENERIC ADS APPROACH!!!

My brain on how to think about ads from a customer and product first approach on Netflix. …

— Adam Grenier (@AKGrenier) April 21, 2022

From @JorgeStolfi:

Every computer scientist should be able to see that cryptocurrencies are totally disfunctional payment systems, and that "blockchain technology" (including "smart constracts") is a technological fraud. Would they please say that out loud?

— Jorge Stolfi (@JorgeStolfi) May 5, 2022

From @michaelbeach:

Local video advertising will be a $55B market in 2022.

Three big questions.

— Michael Beach (@michaelbeach) May 2, 2022

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The post Expanding the View – May 2022 appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

I’m here with a new monthly reading list of stories about emerging business trends that I thought were interesting and are designed to make you think. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you’re seeing out there that you see as up and coming for the news industry. Drop me a line at david@newsmediaalliance.org.

To receive ‘Expanding the View’ in your email inbox each month, click here to subscribe.

What I’ve been reading this month:

Six Months In, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Gamble is Crumbling (Rest of World)
A deep dive on how the country’s bold crypto experiment is faring.

Web3 and the Trap of ‘For Good’(Stanford Social Innovation Review)
Confused by the big claims around Web3? Here’s a deep dive into how proponents may be wrong that Web3 will change the world.

What Google Search Isn’t Showing You (The New Yorker)
After years as the dominant search engine, is Google still the best tool out there?

Fake News about our Fake News Study Spread Faster than its Truth… Just as We Predicted. (Sinan Aral)
A study about Fake News got the Fake News treatment. You won’t believe what happened next!

Into the Military Metaverse: An Empty Buzzword or a Virtual Resource for the Pentagon? (Breaking Defense)
As industries everywhere consider their dive into the metaverse, a look at how the Department of Defense is thinking about this transition.

President Obama Delivers Speech on Disinformation’s Threat to Democracy (Barack Obama)
President Barack Obama’s Stanford speech on disinformation dives deep into how evolving social and traditional media have led us to this moment.

Chris Dixon Thinks Web3 is the Future of the Internet – Is it? (The Verge)
A long interview with famed tech investor Chris Dixon on the future of web3, crypto, and the state of VC.

Notable in the Twitter-verse:

Check out these accounts for more on these and other emerging topics:

Alan Graham: @agraham999
Aram Zucker-Scharff: @Chronotope
web3 is going just great: @web3isgreat
Big Technology: @BigTechnology
Robin Berjon: @robinberjon

From @jasonkilar:

An observation about digital media, especially video: if a company has to pay for the production of content presented on its service, ad revenue alone is very rarely – if ever – enough to result in a sustainable business long term.

— Jason Kilar (@jasonkilar) April 21, 2022

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“Augmented reality is a natural platform for journalism,” says Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives at The Washington Post. “Even though new devices capable of ever richer AR experiences are being developed, mobile phones already allow compelling AR storytelling so The Post can be simultaneously exploring the future and successfully distributing its stories in the present.”

One of The Post’s first big augmented reality projects gives viewers an inside look at some of the world’s most iconic billion dollar buildings, such as the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

“In AR, users can more tangibly interact with storytelling artifacts — scaling things with their own hands or bringing foreign objects into familiar spaces,” Gilbert says. “So far, we have seen the power of introducing virtual objects into physical spaces, the value of showing locations at different zoom levels, historical recreations and even AR stencils for jack-o-lantern carving.”

It’s not just news outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal experimenting with VR and AR. Advertisers, too, are exploring what’s possible with these new methods of sharing stories and images.

This ability to merge the real and virtual worlds has led home décor retailers IKEA and Pottery Barn to create smartphone apps that let users place virtual furniture in their real rooms to see how the pieces will fit in their existing setups.

“Most people postpone a purchase of a new sofa because they’re not comfortable making the decision if they aren’t sure the color is going to match [the rest of the room] or fits the style,” Michael Valdsgaard, the leader of digital transformation at Inter IKEA, IKEA’s parent company, told Digiday. “Now, we can give them [those answers] in their hands, while letting them have fun with home furnishing for free and with no effort.”

People are also getting into VR and AR on a much, much smaller scale. Phinatics.com, a fan site for the Miami Dolphins, recently launched a Phinatics360 channel on YouTube, where they take Dolphins fans into press conferences, tailgating events and even the locker room using 360-degree video. While the videos are targeted at a smaller audience than the immersive products from IKEA or The New York Times, the fact that there is an audience is proof that immersive storytelling is becoming mainstream.

As the costs of AR and VR technology go down and interest in immersive storytelling rises, more outlets and organizations are likely to want to dip their toes into the virtual reality pool. And the bar for entry is much lower than most publishers think. At Digital Media North America, Marcelle Hopkins, the co-director of VR for The New York Times, discussed how easy it can be to get started, even for smaller publishers or organizations. Not only are journalists more adaptable than they’re given credit for, Hopkins said, but getting started in VR is fairly low-risk; the basic tools can be purchased for less than $1,000, she told the audience.

But you don’t have to aim for the skies on your first attempt. As The Washington Post’s Gilbert noted, AR and VR can be used for anything from small, fun stories on pumpkin-carving, to explorations of architecture to stories filmed on the frontlines of war. “The key is making sure that whatever you do truly advances the story,” Gilbert says. “It [also] needs to benefit the reader.”

Part of making sure any immersive techniques used enhance the story rather than overshadow it is having the journalists and tech teams collaborate so that both sides of the AR production are on the same page. Allowing the journalists to take the lead lets them guide the project so that the AR component isn’t something separate from the story it’s supposed to enhance.

“I think about immersive storytelling as a pyramid where at the top of the pyramid you have the smallest audience but the most immersive experience, and at the bottom of the pyramid would be probably our print- and web-based storytelling, where you have the lowest level of immersion but the highest audience,” Gilbert explains. “I think the key when you talk about these technologies is how can you move people from the lowest level of immersion to the highest. But I don’t see us looking at something and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to offer a really immersive experience, but it’s not going to include text.’

here are always going to be people who want to read our stories, and I don’t think I’ve yet seen a way for AR [alone] to tell the whole story.”

The post Virtual Reality Storytelling Is the Wave of the Present appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

I stand on the edge of a cliff, awaiting inevitable free fall.
I walk on the Moon.
I dance among performers on stage at the Cirque Du Soleil.
I pilot a World War 2 fighter jet.
I sit, bound to my wheelchair, as I’m pushed through an insane asylum.

With modern virtual reality technology, you can experience all these things, and much more.

If you’ve never immersed yourself in virtual reality before, it’s a sensation like no other. It’s an immersive, computer-simulated experience that is interactive in a seemingly real, physical way—creating a sensory feeling of existing in an environment other than your own.

And while it is still an evolving medium, its current presence is bigger than most realize. In the past year, virtual reality has taken the nation by storm; over 30 VR experiences appeared at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, a reported 4.8 million paying customers used products this year and the Oculus Rift, an advanced VR consumer headset, sold out in minutes on its March 28, 2016, release.

And the possibilities for virtual reality continue to extend to new industries. In May, the VR company NextVR announced its partnership with the event promoter Live Nation. Together, they will bring hundreds of live performances to the world of virtual reality—allowing people to take a front-row seat at the biggest concert of the year without physically being there.

In the automotive industry, Audi recently announced a new showroom technique that allows customers to explore their own personalized “dream car” using an HTC Vive virtual reality headset, surrounded by settings ranging from Paris to the surface of the moon.

Imagine the opportunities. In real estate, buyers could visit perspective homes without leaving their own. In education, students could experience simulated historical events. In tourism, travelers could explore worldwide destinations without the long plane rides.

But the industry that will see the biggest transformation is our own; virtual reality could begin a new era for news media.

Currently, people can receive news instantaneously. But in the future, VR could allow people to live within it—experiencing, rather than seeing, media content.

With VR, you can experience life through the eyes of a young girl living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, an Ebola survivor in a Liberian village, or a starving homeless man at a food bank in Los Angeles. Virtual reality can take you places you will never go, and expose you to lives you will never have—leading to a reinvigoration of human emotion and compassion.

Chris Milk, the founder and CEO of VR production company Within, calls virtual reality an “empathy machine”. In his April 2015 Ted Talk he said, “It connects humans to other humans in a profound way that I’ve never seen before in any other form of media… through this machine we become more compassionate, we become more empathetic, and we become more connected. And ultimately, we become more human.”

With this, there is an opportunity for the media industry to redefine digitalized human interactions.

Mark Zuckerberg wrote a Facebook post in March 2014 announcing his company’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus, a leading VR technology company. He said, “By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.” It seems Facebook’s shift to VR could present a new definition of social networks; a virtualized world where humans exist and interact within each other’s experiences.

As social media platforms continue to adopt virtual reality, the news industry will follow. In news, a fully-immersive, live story could allow humans to authentically experience content, rather than consume it through interpretation. Journalist Nonny de la Peña, creator of the VR production Project Syria, said in a recent interview: “Journalists will realize really fast that VR has a unique power to place viewers on the scene of an event—instead of watching it from outside—and that that’s a really powerful way to engage them emotionally.”

This new frontier for journalism has already arrived. The New York Timeshas produced six VR films and distributed Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets to subscribers. And in 2014, the Des Moines Register and Gannett Digital released Harvest of Change, a virtual reality story that gives new perspective to cultural and economic issues in rural America.

From here, the possibilities are seemingly limitless; our modern progressions are just a starting point in VR’s rise. According to a January 2016 analysis from Digi-Capital, the industry is predicted to hit $30 billion in revenue by 2020. And in a recent Thrillist article, Jody Medich suggested the possibility of contact lens with VR capabilities in as soon as 10 years.

We could be on the brink of an extraordinary revolution—much like the early stages of the computer, the internet or the smart phone.

But it must be understood that virtual reality is fundamentally different from any platform before it. It’s not just a provider of games, film or entertainment; it’s a generator of raw human empathy. It’s a manifestation that could be followed by evolutions in nearly every industry. It’s a technology that uses human consciousness as a medium.
It’s our future.

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