More than a decade ago, the press began to suffer the onslaught of disruption, and a painful change began to take shape. However, for those who understood it for what it was, it also boosted innovation. In recent years, newspapers and digital native media have pioneered experimentation on the Internet — the former pushed by the pressure generated by changes in their business model and in consumer habits, the latter by the very nature of their DNA.
Along the way, television was left behind. Until now. 2018 will be the year we witness how television becomes a leading player in the battle to discover formats, to find audiences in new ways, to compete on the Internet. News shows on Instagram Stories, original YouTube content with renowned journalists, interactive infographics adapted to television or new programming that is linked to mobile notifications. Television will finally become more digital, while the rest of the media will want to be more like television. To the question of who is doing a good job on the digital transformation of television, there are few answers and examples. Up to now, the elites of the digital world have been the likes of The New York Times and BuzzFeed.
I’m a newspaper journalist, having spent most of my career in print and digital media. I’ve gone through this transition before, from separated newsrooms to integration to no borders. When I landed in television more than three years ago, it felt like I had traveled back in time. I feel like I am seeing history repeating. We are living a second great digital transition, which will end up putting us all, regardless of our origin, on the same competitive plane. Television reaches this critical stage with a lot of experience and lessons that have been learned by others, with heavy pockets, and two clear strengths: a very strong footprint on social networks, both from its brands and its individual talents, and a unique sensitivity for video storytelling that is higher than that of all its competitors.
In 2018, we will witness how digital profiles will take additional ownership of the legacy side of TV companies, both in content and in business; those same traditional newsrooms will begin to create original digital content in a consistent manner; and we will see an important leap in innovation under the pressure of changes in consumer habits and variations in the business model of television. Just as happened in print media, some will lag behind. For these projections to materialize successfully, in addition to a predisposition to innovation and unique content, three factors will be necessary: leadership that rises up to the challenge, a deep understanding of the importance of technology, and high-quality execution.
Borja Echevarría is digital editor-in-chief of Univision News.
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
L. Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Richard J. Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Juleyka Lantigua-Williams Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)