Guest: Mitra Kalita, co-founder and CEO, URL Media

“From a mission perspective, we did not want Black and Brown audiences to be only charitable endeavors. We see our people as a very important, vital, necessary market.” – Mitra Kalita, URL Media

You know you were meant to be a journalist when, as a pre-teen, you created a newspaper to protest your parents’ decision to move your family from Puerto Rico to New Jersey! That is exactly how Mitra Kalita, co-founder and CEO of URL Media, got her start in journalism.

On this episode of News Take, News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern and Kalita have a heartfelt discussion about her journey from being a busy CNN Digital executive to starting her own newsletter, Epicenter-NYC, and media company, URL  Media, in Jackson Heights, New York City amidst a pandemic and racial justice movement. During this light-hearted and honest talk, Kalita shares how she and her business partner were able to achieve instant scale, launching the URL Media network with seven million users, and how they’ve embraced a for-profit business model at a time when many similar groups were launching as nonprofits. In addition, she shares advice for improving diversity in content as well as in the newsroom, including ensuring changes to improve DE&I are lasting and become a part of the organization culture.

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Speaker bio

Mitra Kalita is a veteran journalist, media executive, commentator and author of two books. She is the co-founder/ CEO of URL Media, a network of Black and Brown community news outlets that share content and revenue. URL Media works with mainstream newsrooms to syndicate content and partner on diversity initiatives in content, staffing and culture. She is co-founder and publisher of Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter designed to help New Yorkers get through the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the newsletters The Unmuted and The Escape Home.

Previously, Mitra was Senior Vice President at CNN Digital, overseeing the national news, breaking news, programming, opinion and features teams. She also worked in leadership roles at the Los Angeles Times and Quartz. She sits on a number of journalism industry boards, most notably, the board of the News Media Alliance.

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URL Media

Epicenter-NYC

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The post News Take Episode 104: Encouraging and Sustaining Diversity in News Media appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

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The American Press Institute (API) recently conducted a survey of news organizations, asking them about their subscriber retention activities. Within the API survey, over 300 News Media Alliance member publications were represented. Looking only at Alliance member responses, it is heartening to see that many retention tactics have already been adopted. Over 80 percent of Alliance members report they engage in various retention tactics, such as tracking why people cancel or lapse subscriptions, sending email surveys to subscribers, and more.

Read more (Member login required).

The post Survey Reveals Alliance News Publishers Adopting Subscriber Retention Strategies appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

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As journalists are on the front lines reporting on the coronavirus crisis, as well as the public protests on our nation’s streets to call attention to systemic racism, the public’s demand for local news has never been greater. Over the last few months, local news publishers have been dealt a major blow from the contraction of the local advertising market. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, introduced in the House of Representatives today by Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), would provide incentives in the form of tax credits for consumers to spend on subscriptions to local newspapers; businesses to spend on advertising in local news media; and news organizations to hire and retain professional journalists. This would help ensure local news publishers survive the current crises, and that they are around to cover the next ones. We applaud Representatives Kirkpatrick and Newhouse – and the bipartisan group of their colleagues who have joined them as original co-sponsors – for their leadership in helping to sustain local journalism and preventing further closings of local news publishing businesses and the growth of news deserts across the country.

The post CEO Statement: The News Media Alliance Supports the Local Journalism Sustainability Act appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

News publishers provide an essential public service by reporting the facts and keeping their communities informed during this time of uncertainty. Millions of people around the world get their information about the COVID-19 pandemic from trusted publishers, whose journalists risk their health and well-being for that mission every day. Though online traffic to news sites has spiked during the pandemic, far too many news publishers are still struggling. Thankfully, the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides some relief for American businesses, including news publishers, during this challenging time.

The Alliance’s Stimulus Updates portal provides multiple resources dealing with the stimulus package, including the Alliance Stimulus Funds Guide, a members-only detailed overview of the CARES Act (member login required), but here is a short summary of the important provisions of the CARES Act.

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) coronavirus relief programs now include four separate options: the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) Emergency Advance, SBA Express Bridge Loans, and SBA Debt Relief (These are all SBA loans.)

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a completely new program that has been accepting applications since April 3. Similar to Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), newspaper publishers with less than 1,000 employees are eligible to apply for PPP loans. The loans are granted by SBA-approved lenders and provide a maximum amount of $10 million or 2.5 times the average monthly payroll, whichever is lower. Since this money is meant to incentivize keeping employees on payroll, SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on payroll for at least eight weeks and the money is spent on payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities. Due to expected high enrollment, SBA estimates that at least 75 percent of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll.

Meanwhile, the EIDL, is an existing program that allows small businesses to apply for loans of up to $2 million. Under the CARES Act, many of the qualifying requirements have been waived, making it easier for businesses to receive help. While the general small business threshold is 500 or fewer employees, to be eligible for an EIDL loan, newspaper publishers must have 1,000 or fewer employees. In addition, through the EIDL Emergency Advance program, EIDL applicants can get an advance grant of up to $10,000 three days after approval, even if their EIDL loan application is denied, providing a fast way for a business to receive financial assistance. The advance does not need to be repaid. In addition to the advance, borrowers who have been affected by COVID-19 and have an existing relationship with an SBA Express Lender can apply for an Express Bridge Loan to get up to $25,000 quickly while they wait for their EIDL application to be approved.

The Treasury and Federal Reserve loan programs created under the CARES Act are designed to support larger businesses, as well as states and municipalities. In addition to direct loans to distressed businesses, the Treasury must “endeavor to seek the implementation” of a program to support bank and other lending to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits with 500-10,000 employees. While many of the details are still unclear, both of these loan programs come with many more obligations and restrictions than the SBA loans. The exact conditions vary by loan type, but include prohibitions on stock buybacks and dividend payments, requirements on workforce retainment and limitations on executive pay.

With regards to tax code changes, the CARES Act provides for employee retention tax credits. These provisions are designed to incentivize employers that were either fully or partially closed due to the pandemic, or suffered a 50 percent decline in gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019, to retain their employees. The provisions provide for a fully refundable tax credit of 50 percent of qualified wages paid to the business’s eligible employees between March 12, 2020 and January 1, 2021.

In addition to these major benefits, the CARES Act includes multiple other provisions designed to help struggling businesses, such as news publishers, including allowing businesses to carry net operating losses from 2018 to 2020 back five years in order to reduce prior years’ income, and removing the taxable income limitation. The Act also delays the payment deadlines of employer payroll taxes, allowing employers to pay 50 percent at the end of 2021 and 50 percent one year after that.

As well as payroll tax extensions, the Act allows employers with single employer pension plans to delay payments due in 2020 to January 1, 2021 (with interest), while also providing that the plan’s status for benefit restrictions as of December 31, 2019, will apply throughout 2020.

As for employees, the Act expands unemployment insurance to include independent workers who might not otherwise qualify for benefits, including independent contractors such as newspaper carriers. The Act also extends the maximum benefit period and provides an additional $600 per week for up to four months. This could impact news publishers’ retention of independent contractors during the period that increased unemployment benefits are available.

These are just some of the provisions in the CARES Act designed to help American businesses. The Alliance’s Stimulus Updates portal provides more information on these and other subjects. We will continue to monitor developments and keep our members informed of any opportunities that can help news publishers survive at this critical time.

This content is for informational purposes only. You should consult your financial experts or lawyers before making any decisions.

The post How News Publishers Can Benefit from Government Loan Programs During COVID-19 appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

By Cam Ellis, Special to the Alliance

When it comes to consumer engagement, there’s arguably no more important statistic to track than consumer retention. With every publisher applying a different and unique strategy in hopes of good retainment numbers, it can be hard to establish what techniques make the most sense for you.

That’s where Rich Handloff, Melody Nelson, and Heather Williams come in. Handloff, Director of Consumer Marketing at the Washington Post; Nelson, Regional Vice President of Retention at McClatchy and Williams, Regional Vice President of Audience Development at McClatchy all offered their own expertise in helping establish an intelligent strategy using proven techniques, they’ve picked up from years of field work.

Handloff began the discussion by dispelling the notion that home-delivery subscribers are no longer a sustainable source of revenue. “We know they love newspapers,” he said, “but what we also recognize is that digital is a big part of their day. We want to incorporate more digital into their lives. Newspaper alone subscription is a thing of the past, so how do we keep them engaged?”

The key? To Handloff, at least, the secret lies in personalization.
“At the Washington Post, we ask them to tell us what they’re interested,” he said. “What they tell you, you will then be able to serve them up worthwhile content. Every Friday, our print subscribers get an email about what’s coming up over the weekend. We want them to know about it ahead of time. This gives a snapshot of the Sunday paper.”

He also mentioned the Washington Post’s Afternoon Buzz, which is an email that goes out every Monday through Friday, letting subscribers know what has happened in the news since the morning’s paper went to press.

Next, Heather Williams took a look at how to best take digital practices to next level using data that publishers collect. “It’s important to ask for the information,” she said. “How many times have you gone and put something in your cart and never checked out? Make those first fields count.

“Asking for too much information seems intrusive, but you can be a little intrusive if you’re offering them something in return.”
She also mentioned response rate, target offers, and dynamic pricing as easy ways to build a favorable reputation among your consumers.

Lastly, Melody Nelson took the podium to elaborate on the best practices in ensuring a favorable reputation, especially when it comes to the actual delivery of a physical newspaper. “ The relationship with consumers starts at the moment of purchase. You need to communicate value. The most important thing is to establish that a delivery service has start. First impressions go a long way.

“Fix an issue before it comes a problem, build trust. A complaint follow up shouldn’t end after the first day, or week, or month, or year. You should pull complaint reports on a daily basis, and follow up with customers.”

She ended the session with a powerful and insightful look at the relationship between consumers and producers. “People want to be heard” she said. “Give your customers a voice.”

The post mediaXchange 2017: Proven Strategies for Reader Engagement appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

The adage of “revenue follows audiences” has never been more true than today. The fourth webinar of the News Media Alliance Audience and Revenue series showcases best practices in using data analytics to optimize marketing investments to identify the highest value customers, as well as best practices in customer lifecycle management that increase subscriber retention.

News media companies have come to recognize the important role of audience data for increasing content engagement across platforms, driving operational efficiencies in acquisition and retention efforts, and identifying new revenue opportunities through connecting buyers and sellers in their local marketplace. Consumer revenues now represent a larger share of total revenues and this number continues to grow. To capitalize on this opportunity, news media companies are investing in their customer intelligence infrastructure and focusing on ways to drive engagement and activation to grow audiences that can be monetized in a variety of ways.

Register today to learn more about how the Albany Times Union and Hearst Connecticut newspapers are experiencing success in working towards these goals and how you can apply the same strategies in your market.

Event Materials

• Audio
• Slides

Speakers

Kerry Turner
Audience Development Director, Hearst Media

Kerry Turner is the Audience Development Director, Hearst Media Bridgeport, Connecticut Newspapers. Prior to her move to Hearst Connecticut Media Group 18 months ago, Kerry was the director of circulation at The Frederick News-Post for five years where she started as an account executive before being promoted to Sales Manager. Kerry is also a certified Dale Carnegie Trainer and a graduate of Virginia Tech University.

Todd Peterson
VP Circulation, Times Union    

Todd Peterson is Vice President Circulation at Times Union in Albany, New York.  His career has progressed with a focus on building retaining newspaper audiences.   He moved to the Times Union three years ago from GateHouse Media where he was VP of Circulation and Audience Development – New England.  Todd started his newspaper career at the News and Observer in Raleigh, NC, where he graduated from North Carolina State University. More recently he earned his MBA at Northeastern University.

Todd’s experience also includes working with Gannett Newspapers as Engagement and Retention manager and Sales and Marketing manager at The Asheville Citizen-Times and Burlington Free Press.  During his tenure at Gannett Co. Todd served as a News Media Alliance resource including a presentation at the Annual Audience Symposium.

Introduction by: John Murray
VP, Audience Development, News Media Alliance 

John Murray is responsible for the News Media Alliance’s efforts to provide marketing support for circulation executives and publishers. In this role, he facilitates discussion of key issues facing the industry such as subscriber acquisition, leveraging ABC reporting, achieving operational efficiency, and cross platform marketing to readers. In addition, Murray collects and shares with Alliance members the latest and best thinking on newspaper readership, audience and circulation marketing, subscriber retention and acquisition, and telemarketing compliance. He regularly serves as a resource to News Media Alliance advertising customers on questions regarding newspaper circulation and readership.

Murray joined the News Media Alliance from the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Newspapers, where he served as director of circulation for seven years. Under Fort Wayne’s joint operating agreement, Murray managed The News Sentinel, a six-day afternoon newspaper and The Journal Gazette, a seven-day morning publication. Murray also served in Fort Wayne as director of marketing for five years and had assignments in the advertising division. He began his newspaper career in 1979 in Columbus, Ga., and was a participant in Knight Ridder’s Circulation Management Development Program. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in marketing and economics.

The post Webinar Recap: Leveraging Audience Data to Drive Engagement & Monetization appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

This guest article is the second in a three-part series from Mather Economics, an Atlanta-based global consulting firm that helps businesses with pricing strategies. Read Part One here.

In my article, “Innovations In Audience Strategies That Lower Churn,” published in June 2016, I described applications of analytics that have been effective in reducing churn among subscribers. The applications discussed were targeted messages triggered by customer behavior, moving touchpoints earlier in the expiration timeline and testing retention incentives to see which were most effective.

Also important for newspaper publishers is establishing a culture that grows relationships with customers, a topic that I have learned a good deal about from Xavier van Leeuwe and Matthijs van de Peppel of NRC Media in Amsterdam, a customer of Mather Economics. Xavier and I have discussed this topic at length, and he has shared with me key insights from his experience growing circulation at that publication. For most companies, building a culture that fosters customer relationships does not come easy. There are, however, a few key points from Xavier that have helped me understand how best to go about developing a culture of building customer relationships.

1. Commit to the relationship.

Committing to the relationship is a two-way street. Establishing the right offer terms are important for setting the future course of a customer’s lifetime with the publication. Trial subscriptions are not effective, are costly and lead to poor customer experience and product perception. Longer-term offers, in some cases the use of contracts that set a price during the life of the agreement in exchange for a customer’s commitment to pay, lead to greater long-term customer relationships.

2. Grow relationships with sincere attention.

Making direct contact with customers on a regular basis is priceless. “What was great about our service? What disappointed you?” NRC designed service techniques that created customer journeys for specific subscriber segments. Measure the effectiveness of individual customer service representatives so that good performance can be rewarded and replicated. Dare to make unprofitable decisions that are right for the customer. Guide these decisions with as much intelligence about the customer’s needs and wants as possible.

3. Listen through data and use the right key performance indicators.

Follow your customers in the data. Be honest with yourself about what is causing their cancellations. If many customers want a printed copy one day a week, give them that option.  Look at what customers are actually doing, which is often not what they say they will do. What is the best indicator of a relationship? Years as an active customer. NRC measures average acquisition term length in years and predicted lifetime value for each new customer. They have experimented with offers and business processes that maximize these metrics, and they have seen dramatic improvements in both.

4. Don’t break up over money.

A revenue strategy balances volume and rate. Sustainable strategies do not move too far in one of these directions at the expense of the other. Similarly, as sailing upwind requires tacking to the left or right of your goal to make progress, reaching long-term customer revenue goals may require leaning more heavily on rate or volume for a period of time, but maintaining long-term balance is critical. Giving new customers lower rates while their relationship with the publication is established will pay dividends in the long-term.

NRC’s results have been profound and encouraging. NRC is now 12,000 subscribers above where they were a year ago and the growth trend is continuing.

Audience acquisition strategies and tactics at news media companies often emphasize hunting for new customer acquisitions over farming for customer retention. Given the results we have seen from farming, maybe we should all hunt a little less.

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