Let’s face it: Digital news publishers have little reason to feel optimistic heading into 2018. There’s no shortage of ominous headlines or hot takes from the pundits and media prognosticators who, despite the fact that digital advertising will surpass $90 billion in the U.S. in the coming year, are predicting more pain for publishers.
Only 15 years ago, before the hyper-migration to digital began and a wave of consolidation swept across the print media space, U.S.-based newspapers raked in $67 billion in advertising. As many traditional publishers and newsrooms began to transform their businesses (and continue to do so today), meaningful digital advertising growth proved elusive to most, simultaneously contending with both the fickle demands of the marketplace and having to support an inordinate number of online publishers, platforms, and adtech companies.
Then came along a slew of “digital natives,” backed largely by venture capitalists, and the promise to invent a new publishing model. They stood up modern websites, relied on the social web for content distribution, and chased audiences and advertising businesses that could flourish, free from the shackles of a legacy business. Or so they thought. In reality, what many of these startups succeeded in doing was to launch new media properties, in an already over-crowded space, and produce content the world never needed. If companies like Mic, NowThis News, or even BuzzFeed never existed, would the state of news and journalism in this country look any different?
It’s easy to blame the platform monopolies for publishers’ quandaries, but it’s time to also acknowledge that there are simply too many of us in the digital news space. Digital ad spending continues to soar, but the lion’s share remains hijacked by a handful of companies, and exceedingly, gets vacuumed into the programmatic abyss. But if there’s one silver lining, it’s this: For too long, an excessive number of VC-backed publishers and adtech companies have been able to survive by siphoning off the digital advertising hose. Those days are winding down, however, and 2018 will be a year of reckoning for many. We are already seeing it via reports of missed revenue forecasts, shrinking company valuations, big M&A activity, and of course, pivots!
In today’s digital news economy, either you are a buyer or a seller. It’s time to decide which you are, and act accordingly; getting caught somewhere in between means being dealt a knockout blow, and the VCs won’t pull you off the ropes. 2018 will be all about pivoting towards consolidation, and creating strength-in-numbers alliances. That’s likely a good thing, as it should open up wider lanes for many heritage-based news publishers to maneuver. Those who can look past the headlines and sprint towards the opportunities.
Michael Kuntz is president of advertising sales and brand partnerships for the USA Today Network.
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Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Nik Usher The year of The Washington Post
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Carrie Brown Transparency finally takes off
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game