Chapter 1
Data will transform print media’s fortunes
From the death of classified advertising to the birth of social networks, traditional news media publishing has been dealt some of the heaviest blows of the internet age. And, until now, it has always found a way to dust itself off and keep going. However, it really could be down for the count soon, if it can’t transform its business model.
Publishers that haven’t already moved to a digital business model should do so, and quickly. Digital isn’t about an interactive website or offering multimedia content rather than written words; it’s data and the ability to collect and operationalize it for short-term customer retention and long-term business growth.
For instance, as several legacy media brands have demonstrated over the past several years, a subscription service can do more than simply help an organization survive, it can provide a genuine engine for growth and reduce exposure to an increasingly unstable advertising market.
Real-time first-party data is central to designing, deploying and improving a subscription model where at the end of each cycle there’s a greater likelihood of renewal than attrition
However, each of these success stories is predicated on the fact that the new business model was the result of having the right depth and breadth of customer data. Real-time first-party data is central to designing, deploying and improving a subscription model where at the end of each cycle there’s a greater likelihood of renewal than attrition.
Likewise, the same access to data is how modern media brands develop targeted campaigns focused on customer acquisition and elevating brand awareness. And crucially, having these insights on hand will ensure that serving and supporting customers, including solving their problems and resolving issues, becomes better over time without increasing the cost to serve or the existing complexity of CX delivery.
And, while it’s entirely possible to bolt on features, services and solutions to a legacy operating model, sustained benefits can only be achieved if any new approach or attempt to pivot is underpinned by the right digital-first business model. And that’s only possible through undertaking a digital business transformation.
Takeaways
Identify ways of taking control of data in order to shape the customer experience.
Examine legacy system capabilities before adopting new tools or processes.
Start developing a digital transformation roadmap to understand pitfalls and ensure success.
Spotlight
Risk and reward: Why GenAI is an opportunity and an existential threat to publishing
Although greater monetization and larger volumes of customer insights are two of the factors pushing newspapers and magazines towards paywalls and subscription services, generative AI’s insatiable appetite for training materials is the third driving force.
The capabilities of the leading public-facing GenAI chatbots are already so advanced in terms of content creation and summation that questions are being raised about the future of journalism as a profession.
And yet, even though much of these generative pre-trained transformer chatbots’ capabilities are due to learning from decades of news articles published online, if news organizations were to embrace the technology to create news stories, there could be huge reputational risks.
Nevertheless, the future prosperity of digital news could rest on AI implementation, even if that implementation only extends as far as optimizing existing business plans. GenAI can, and should, be used for analyzing and understanding customer sentiment and using those findings to fine-tune any subscription packages or membership tiers.
Likewise, its ability to automate processes that require an element of deduction or contemplation, rather than being 100% rules-based, can markedly improve back-office processes, including providing extra support for CX teams and customer-facing agents.
As for customer-facing applications, the technology can be applied to make more accurate recommendations and could be used to make certain topics more appealing to younger audiences. There’s a real risk that over the next several years, publishers will have to rethink discovery as search engines and social networks move away from sharing links and start providing automated summarized responses to search queries.