In the news: What should your analytics strategy look like as you plan for next year?

Data analytics are a tricky proposition for publishers. Recent changes to Google, including the phasing out of third-party cookies, have only added to the myriad challenges. What's New in Publishing writes on its website: "The issue has been that publishers and brands have historically managed audience data in siloed systems. Therefore, critical information surrounding ad revenue, subscriptions, content engagement, and customer profiles is all stored separately."

So what should publishers be doing as they look ahead to 2022? The new analytics landscape is raising a lot of questions -- and creating a lot of new opportunities, says WNIP: "The IT department no longer governs data and analytics to the degree that it once did. So, commercial teams like marketing, sales and finance now have the opportunity to more heavily influence these areas than ever before." WNIP emphasizes, among other things, the importance of customizing data models, privacy compliance, and enriched data. Read more here.

Also Notable

Shareholders Profit off Failing Magazines

An eye-catching Forbes.com headline this week: "How Failing Magazines Fueled a 3,800 percent Return for Shareholders in This British Publisher." The article, by Iain Martin, examines how London company Future Plc has scooped up failing magazine brands and turning huge profits. CEO Zillah Byng-Thorne took over in 2014 and started making major changes. "Byng-Thorne has transformed Future into a digital-content powerhouse generating a $95.7 million profit last year from sales of $451 million. The share price is up 3,821 percent in just over six years, translating into a market cap of $6.3 billion," Martin reports. What's more, he says, "Byng-Thorne broke Future's reliance on newsstand and advertising and refocused the entire venture on events, data and, most critically, e-commerce.... As one of the few buyers of unloved print assets, Byng-Thorne can drive a hard bargain and her expertise in stripping out costs makes each deal even sweeter." Read more here about how Future Plc's modus operandi may become a template for publishers the industry over.

Publishers Tackle Climate Change

Some publishers, possibly seeing writing on the wall, are recalibrating to address the climate crisis. But are they acting swiftly enough? Sara Guaglione of Digiday.com reports: "The Media and Climate Change Observatory ... found that coverage of [climate] issues in August 2021 was the highest in more than a decade. However, climate change coverage is lagging in the U.S. U.S. print coverage of the issue was down 0.2 percent and TV coverage decreased 10 percent in August 2021 compared to the previous month." That said, some publishers are creating new climate-oriented verticals to divert resources to this crucial subject. Among them, Guaglione says, are Condé Nast (who aims to be carbon neutral by 2030, says Guaglione) and the New York Times, which will hold a nine-day event in Glasgow during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Read more here.

Crowdfunding as Business Model?

Increasingly, news publishers are turning to philanthropy and crowdfunding to stay afloat as the pandemic continues to present revenue challenges. But, as Kristen Hare notes in a recent Poynter.org piece, the issue becomes more complex when larger donors come into play: "For-profits need a nonprofit partner, Lenfest's Forman said, to offer tax deductions for people who give money. Some newsrooms are building out partnerships to make that work," she writes. What's more, "for-profit newsrooms need to publish clear policies on how they handle gifts, what work is donor supported and what that means for the journalism." Read more here.

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