Packaged media vs networked media

The Rebooting's latest research project, in collaboration with WordPress VIP, examined the state of product at publishers. We surveyed over 50 product execs at publishers to understand their challenges and priorities. Check out the resulting report.

This week, I'm thinking more about how packaged media uneasily coexists alongside networked media in the Information Space. The attack on Trump points to the lanes each will inhabit. Also, a conversation with Dotdash Meredith chief product officer Adam McClean and The Daily Beast svp of product Samanatha Winkelman on their product priorities, and how The Guardian is organizing around frequency as its audience goal.

The essential guide for the cookieless future 

The old recipes for digital targeting are fading away. Consumer privacy laws across Europe and 15+ US states have rewritten the rules of consent around data use. And next year, Chrome is set to deprecate the third-party cookie. EX.CO’s new industry guide includes actionable strategies for privacy-safe online advertising that you can put into place today. And you’ll read first-hand advice from leading experts about how to tackle targeting without the pesky staple that built much of the modern web. 

The network is the media

Massive news events are good stress tests of the state of the media ecosystem. The attack on Donald Trump showed clearly how the essential feature of what I call the Information Space is the tension between packaged media and networked media.

Packaged media is what was formerly known as legacy media or mainstream media. Packaged media is prepared for an audience to understand complex events. This requires narrative choices and the omission of certain facts, particularly if they’re unproven. Sometimes it is in service of a political position like MSNBC or Fox News. It often comes with institutional heft, even if that leverage is fading. 

Packaged media used to just be media. The scarcity of distribution and cost of creation created moats. Those obviously are gone. And in the vacuum has risen networked media. In networked media, a mass of self-organizing individuals contribute facts, expertise, jokes, memes, arguments, conspiracies ranging from plausible to outlandish, and everything in between. With networked media, as Troy says in our latest episode of PvA, you get close to the metal. You’re dealing with raw information.

My annoying point of view is typically that most things presented as an either-or tend to be and situations. This is no different. Each has strengths and weaknesses.

• Packaged media took a mostly cautious approach. For most part, the packaged news media performed well. The advantages of packaged media will always be in rigor over speed. It’s telling that in a sea of smartphones the iconic image came from an AP photographer. The BBC had the most important interview of the early hours because it was on the ground and did the leg work.
• Networked media is far more entertaining. The most vibrant forms of media are interactive. The advantage of networked media is that it has feeling of interactivity. You hear directly from “experts,” some of whom  have expertise, some of whom are VCs. The feed will always provide new plot twists, funny memes and side brawls. This is news as infotainment.

This kind of chaotic information landscape won’t go away. Some will stick with packaged media because who wants to wade through Reddit and try to discern what’s real and what’s a shitpost. Information junkies will want to wade into the raw material and balance that out with packaged media. Packaged media will adopt some of the best features of networked media, such as hearing directly from experts, but for the most part it should lean on its differentiation by reporting out the facts.

We discuss packaged vs networked media on this week's episode of People vs Algorithms. Plus: why YouTube became an unlikely leader in podcast distribution (it’s the discovery); the unlikely partnership between Apple and Taboola; and a reason for optimism: Pizza Hut is bringing back its all-you-can-eat lunch buffet.

Listen to PvA on Apple, Spotify or other podcast platforms

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The Guardian’s North Star: Frequency

Complicated is out. Simplicity is in. Too many publishing businesses grew too complex when chasing traffic and incremental revenue, creating a mess of overlapping technologies, contradictory goals and leading to “shipping the org chart” with what can charitably be called suboptimal user experiences. 

Establishing a North Star or God metric is a key tool for organizing different constituencies toward the same goal. Yesterday, The Rebooting held an online forum in collaboration with Omeda to understand how The Guardian US is approaching its audience goals. The new publisher is in the early stages of organizing itself around a simple goal: frequency. Rather than try to accumulate one-and-done pageviews, the publisher is measuring and optimizing to earning repeat visits.

I was joined by Omeda CEO James Capo, The Guardian US svp of growth Emilie Harkin and The Guardian US vp of audience Tom Johnson. Among the topics covered:

• The challenge of “engagement” as a North Star
• Why audience segmentation is table stakes for all publishing businesses now
• The case for a Chief Audience Officer

Watch the replay of the online forum

How Dotdash Meredith and The Daily Beast approach product

At last week’s Media Product Forum, which The Rebooting held in collaboration with WordPress VIP, I had a discussion with Dotdash Meredith chief product officer Adam McClean and The Daily Beast svp of product Samantha Winkelman about their respective product strategies.

While both owned by IAC, the publishers are at vastly different sizes, with The Daily Beast having three people in product to DDM’s 75. The connective tissue of both: A focus on audience needs. Some highlights:

• "We build amazing content on the best brands possible with respectful advertising. It's not one size fits all, and you have to really understand the user." (Adam)
• "Something that we're trying to solve for is, how do we make sure that people who come to the site actually understand our breadth of coverage. How do we actually give that visibility across the board?" (Samantha)
• "We've always been focused primarily on users, but [also] trying to understand and meet their intent." (Adam)
• "Right now, getting back to basics has been really important for us. And so thinking about discovery and habituation and how those serve all of our business lines, but also ultimately our readers to find the journalism that they're looking for and discover the next story." (Samantha)

Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify or other podcast platforms

Thanks for reading. Send me a note with feedback, and get in touch if you want to discuss sponsorship programs we have planned for the fall, including a new edition of the New Growth Agenda event on Nov. 13, private dinners, research projects and online forums. My email is bmorrissey@therebooting.com (or just hit reply).