The Amply team headed to London last week for the Press Gazette’s Future of Media event.
On hand to meet with publishers to introduce them to the power of Amply’s revenue-driving job boards, widgets, content and more, the team also picked up some fascinating insights on where the future of media lies.
The rise of generative AI
Unsurprisingly, AI was at the forefront of many of the event’s talks and discussions. Key points touched on whether AI will replace journalists––and which one is more original?––as well as how to put a stop to the rise of generative AI.
Inevitably, AI is having a major impact on the newsroom and this is now playing out in real time. Sentiment at the conference tended towards the fact that it is now time to leverage its abilities and improve workflows––or get left behind.
At Sky News, for example, Przemyslaw Pluta, who is head of platform solutions at the broadcaster, said that “Trained Agents” are in use. Rather than using generative AI, this is an LLM trained to specifically help reporters summarise breaking news with Sky’s tonality in mind.
Questions were also asked around whether publishers should look to legally restrict AI scraping through copyright, or should they look to monetise it when that happens.
And with an audience member asking, “If you have £1,000,000 to invest in your media business, would you use it to hire more journalists or widely adopt the latest generative AI model?”, right now, there is no clear answer to this question for publishers.
Amply’s Jasper James
Getting Gen Zs attention
Publishers are also focused on another big dilemma. How do they get in front of Gen Z’s eyeballs? The TikTok generation, Gen Z audiences are proving elusive, due to their evolving definition of news and news media.
So how can publishers stay relevant to them? Head of audience at The Independent, Matt Payton said, “Once you have them on your page, it’s almost criminal to let them go”.
Publishers are also exploring subscriptions, periodical metric tracking, constantly relevant content, research, and evolving social media strategies as a way to attract this lucrative, key audience.
Community as a differentiator
DC Thompson is an example of a publishing company which has rebranded under the concept of community. The company’s chief brand officer Ella Dolphin says that while “audiences” suggest passive consumption, “communities” suggest interaction and participation. As a result of this insight, the company has pivoted its approach.
“We’re asking for a transaction: participation and payment,” Dolphin said at the event. “If they know what you’re doing for the community, it’s easier to make that transaction.”
Of course, it isn’t as simple as just deciding to target communities. DC Thompson has put in the hard yards, doing technical work to support the move, including creating common infrastructure such as data pools.
Want to learn more? Of course you do.
Learn more how Amply can maximise your audience engagement and unlock a new revenue stream, get in touch today.
To read more takeaways from attending key publishing events, read about the INMA World Congress of News Media event in New York.
