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The usually happy advertising people have been quite sad. Their clients - the brands - have been fleeing due to ugly content. Nobody wants to be attached, literally or figuratively, to dreadful words and images. At the same time, publishers really want positive attention from the media buyers.
Giant media buyer GroupM, subsidiary of WPP, wants to solve these problems. Cooperating with international media support NGO Internews and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) the Back to News initiative has been introduced, said the Group press release (February 28), “to support the re-investment of media budgets in credible news publishers who are advancing the practice of responsible journalism around the world.” There is going to be a list available of news websites vetted by the Ads for News service from Internews rolled out in 60 countries by the end of the year. (See more about media support here)
“We’ve seen the damage that mis- and disinformation campaigns can do to social cohesion and trust in institutions,” said GroupM head of Global Partnerships Kieley Taylor in the statement. “We believe advertising can play an important role in fighting this trend by supporting the creation of shared realities rooted in credible, fact-based journalism.” The initiative was announced just days after widely reported revelations of News Corporation media subsidiaries spreading disinformation. (See more about disinformation here)
“Finding the truth is the challenge of our time and supporting those who uncover it is our collective responsibility,” said Ads for News director Chris Hajecki. “Leading brands recognize that creating social profit from core business activities, like media investment, is essential in generating financial profit and shareholder return. For these brands, this GroupM partnership brings access to new, motivated customers in brand-safe, high quality content environments while helping to save our access to truth.”
Chief executives are more often seizing the limelight. Once largely cloistered in dull and drab board meetings reviewing financial statements, some are stepping forward, often with big ideas. The reasoning is simple: projecting into the future is the picture of strength. It also avoids the pesky nitty gritty.
Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner, “never embarrassed by big words,” observed Tagesspiegel (February 28), had a moment or two this week. There will be a major company restructuring, focused on “digital only” and the US market. The backdrop, of course, was the nitty gritty of job cuts.
German publisher Axel Springer principally produces tabloid Bild and magazine Die Welt. It also publishes online gossip portal Insider in Germany and the US as well as political gossip portal Politico aimed at lobbyists and their friends in Washington DC and Brussels. Axel Springer acquired Insider and Politico in 2015. In 2019 US private equity investor KKR took a significant stake, eventually a majority, built on Herr Döpfner’s view of success. The company withdrew from public trading in 2020. (See more about Axel Springer here)
The restructuring broadly outlined by Herr Döpfner, similar to that of other publishers, emphasizes an exit from the printed page. He called this “the third stage of digitization,” where “creators” remain and others go, replaced by bots. “In order to remain economically successful in the future, our earnings in the German media business must improve by around €100 million over the next three years. Through increases in sales, but also through cost reductions.” He has obviously heard from the KKR partners.
Once the darling of online media, Vice Media is showing its age. There was that period of explosive growth, awards and audiences for the irreverent media company. Then the struggles began. Now media watchers are circling to write the obituary.
Vice Media is closing its Paris office at the end of March. Let go will be the staff of 30. The production house and ad agency will also close. Its Madrid offices closed two years ago. Vice Media employs about 4,000 persons worldwide.
The company has been looking for a buyer willing to invest about US$1.5 billion. After successful funding round in 2017, Disney participating, Vice Media was valued at US$5.7 billion. Two years later Disney wrote-off its investment. Last week chief executive Nancy Dubuc announced her departure. "As young people are not willing to pay for information, Vice must find new sources of income,” said an unnamed expert to Le Figaro (February 27). (See more about online news here)
“Vice for a long time was the darling of a new type of internet publisher, representing a unique voice and targeting an audience that was unreachable by traditional media, and that’s why folks like Disney invested in them,” said media buyer Ocean Media SVP Jared Lake to The Wrap (February 27). “And for a while they were untouchable. And then the bottom fell out of the ad-supported market.”
The curtain should not be drawn on Vice Media just yet. There are real assets and, equally important, skillsets. Like BuzzFeed, the company was drawn into the technology mindset; expand, borrow, expand, borrow more all in the hope a steady revenue stream would materialize. Meta and Alphabet just beat them to the punch.
Publishers live and breathe attracting attention. These are the people who sculpted the art and science of headlines. Successfully managing the brand profile means entering the emotional space of readers, listeners and viewers. Cartoons have long been safe attention getters.
Surprising nobody, nearly all US publishers ended the run of the Dilbert cartoon strip after its creator Scott Adams spouted off a blatantly racist trope last week (February 22) on a YouTube video, noted NPR (February 27). While the Dilbert strip ostensibly satirizes office culture - a relatively safe subject - Mr. Adams had adopted themes popular with the US right-wing. He has been an unrepentant Donald Trump supporter.
“This is not a difficult decision. We are not a home for those who espouse racism,” wrote Cleveland Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn. “No one is taking Adams' free speech rights away,” added The Oregonian editor Therese Bottomly. “He is free to share his abhorrent comments on YouTube and Twitter so long as those companies allow them.” Dilbert syndicator Andrews McMeel Universal ended its relationship with Mr. Adams. Again surprising nobody, Chief Twit Elon Musk chimed in defending Mr. Adams: "We should stop canceling comedy!” (See more about newspapers here)
Irony being lost on Chief Twit, about half of Twitter’s major advertisers have walked away, reported CNN (February 13). None would comment on their departures. For big advertisers space on Twitter has been nice but not necessary. For big (and small) publishers that is not the case.
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