Journalism,Media,& Technology trends & Predictions 2022

For a news sector that has been both disrupted and consolidated, 2022 will be a year of careful consolidation. Audiences for news media have been declining in several parts of the world throughout 2021 – This year, a major issue for the news media will be to re-engage those who are concerned about change and mental health, as well as how journalists should behave on social media. On the business side, many traditional news organizations are still laser-focused on delivering content faster. After a time in which digital advertising revenue was syphoned off by large platforms, publishers have a chance to improve their fortunes this year.

1- The Business of Journalism is Looking Up for Some

The gain in revenue reported by many respondents is one of the biggest surprises in this year's poll. Overall revenues have climbed, according to well over half of our sample (59 percent), which includes both subscription and advertising-focused publishers from more than 50 countries, despite the pandemic and the further decline of conventional revenue sources such as print. Over the last 18 months, digital revenue streams such as subscriptions, e-commerce, and digital events have grown significantly. For all publications, a strong rebound in digital advertising has been a key factor, with digital advertising accounting for nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of total advertising spend.

The drop in news consumption online in the United States and the United Kingdom is due to the depression produced by the news, as more people turn to streaming services and social media for distraction and pleasure. The graph below depicts the decline in both countries over time.

For the online Traffic, they found a more mixed picture in their own poll, which covered a wide range of countries. Despite the fact that the majority of online news sites (54%) report unchanged or declining traffic, more than four out of ten (44%) believe their traffic has increased.

1.1 Subscription and membership models mature

The opportunity for growth at the company level is there for us. We see the path and prospects clearly now with sustainable revenue model in place. Styli Charalambous, CEO, Daily Maverick, South Africa

According to our survey, subscription remains the top goal for commercial publishers in 2022 (79 percent), ahead of display advertising (73 percent) and native advertising (59 percent), events (40 percent), and platform finance (29 percent), which has increased dramatically over the previous year.

Free-at-the-point-of-consumption models will be critical in ensuring that news is not restricted to the wealthy. Almost half of news executives (47 percent) are concerned that subscription models are forcing journalism to focus on super-serving wealthy and educated consumers while neglecting others. Many leaders of PSBs and others committed to open journalism disagree with this assertion, but our own research reveals that even these organizations are having difficulty connecting online with younger and less educated individuals.

What will happen this year?

1- Open access initiatives: Expect more deals for those from disadvantaged backgrounds as a way of countering critiques about growing information inequality.

2- Countering subscription weariness through product extensions and bundling: Many publishers will be focusing on this in order to keep new members earned during COVID. One potential response will be cut-price offers and differential pricing, especially if the economy continues to struggle, but others are trying to produce new premium products to encourage tie-in.

1.2 The Creator Economy and the Battle for Talent

The creator Economy combined two significant concepts during the last few years. The first is that internet journalism must be paid for, and the second is that as journalists create relationships and communities, they may need to act more like social influencers. These principles are represented in new platforms like Substack, which, in combination with new product offers from major digital companies, have enabled individual authors, vloggers, and podcasters to earn considerable sums of money, reviving the so-called "creative economy."

What will happen this year?

If last year's tendency was for top authors to strike out on their own, this year we might see more movement in the opposite direction. Traditional corporations are attempting to hoover up talent as a way of feeding subscription pipelines because not all writers have found it simple to create a following rapidly on their own.?

1- Journalism collectives as a middle ground: This year, we may see more enterprises attempting to combine the infrastructure of traditional news organizations with the independence and financial benefits that can be found by working independently.

2- Connecting subscriptions to writers' pay: As media businesses rely more on star talent to generate income from readers, this is likely to become a more controversial issue this year.

1.3 Make or Break Year for Digital Media Brands

BuzzFeed and a few other digital native firms, such as Vox and Vice, looked like the future of the news industry not long ago. A generation of writers conversant with digital culture fueled sky-high valuations by inventing a set of forms that matched expanding consumer appetite for social consumption. Some digital media stars have returned to traditional media businesses, and many venture capitalists (VCs) are eager to recoup their investments. The initial disruptors are now competing for broad readers and advertising revenue with resurgent legacy media and platforms.

What will happen this year?

1- BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti has pushed for years that digital publishers should merge to offer them more negotiating power with advertisers and to fight with Facebook and Google's ad dominance.

2- The major companies in traditional media will be seeking for digital brands that can add value to their subscription bundles and bring in other types of audience to fuel development.

3- Local start-ups fueled by new models: This year, we can expect to see an increase in low-cost reader-focused start-ups based on mailing platforms like Substack, which help reduce technology and infrastructure expenses.

2. Audience Strategies and Publisher Innovation

Although some media firms focus on advertising and others on subscriptions, both models rely on stronger contact with viewers via websites, apps, newsletters, and podcasts. In terms of audience-facing innovation, podcasts and other digital audio will receive the greatest attention this year (80%), followed by constructing and overhauling newsletters (70%) and developing digital video formats (20%). (63 percent ). 'Shiny new things,' on the other hand, that include technology that has not yet matured, such as voice applications (14%), and the metaverse (8%), tend to be popular.

2.1 Audio Everywhere

Audio is going to be a first-class medium. Every once in a while, a new medium comes along that can be adopted into a lot of different areas. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook12

The rise (and demise) of Clubhouse, dubbed the "first airpods social network," has been widely documented, but nearly every major site, including Twitter (Spaces), Facebook (Live Audio Rooms), and Reddit (Talk), immediately built clones to allow users to conduct impromptu conversation and events. When the buzz dies down, the jury is still out on how interesting these features will be for moviegoers. Meanwhile, audio messaging and communication is gaining appeal in a variety of apps ranging from cooking to dating. Short audio messages connected to Hinge dating profiles have added personality beyond photographs and bios – and many have gone viral.

What will happen this year in audio?

More publishers are attempting to establish themselves as audio destinations: With audio becoming increasingly important, the battle for control of the entire customer experience is heating up between competing platforms and publishers.

The New York Times is planning to launch a listening product this year which will include article narrations from Audm including stories from rival publications, and shows from Serial Productions, both of which it bought in 2020.

The second coming of commercial podcast platforms: Apple and Spotify's paid features will open up the market for individual creators and publishers this year. Spotify, unlike Apple, will not take a cut for the first two years in order to attract the top talent. Offering a combination of free and paid programming, including special episodes for super fans, is one option. Independent podcast services, particularly in smaller regions, are quietly building alternatives.

The question here is what is next?

While most publishers are focused on making the most of the current web, there will be a lot of anticipation — and some hype – about what comes next. Artificial intelligence, Web3, encryption, NFTs, and the metaverse will all be used more frequently in the coming year, but what impact will they have on journalism?

2.2 Get Set for Another Pivot to Video

The initial shift to video was fueled in part by new social media formats such as Facebook Live, but it faded fast as platforms lost interest. Now, live video is resurgent, fueled in part by COVID news conferences and dramatic events like as the storming of the US Capitol, while short-form video has been revitalized by TikTok's innovation and rapid development.

Why does this matter for journalism?

Publishers are increasingly worried about how to attract younger audiences and many see native video formats as part of the answer. We can observe a definite shift in direction in terms of third-party platforms being prioritized this year in their poll. Publishers said they'll focus more on Instagram (net score of +54), TikTok (+44), and YouTube (+43), all of which specialize in visual and video content, and less on general-purpose networks like Twitter (-5) and Facebook (-8).

What will happen this year in video?

2.3 Publishers Identify Blockers to Innovation

Innovation is becoming a more important part in our growth strategy as we try to go beyond the ‘core’. CTO at a successful subscription publisher

Rather than investing in new technologies or services, the majority of poll respondents believe that the main focus this year should be on iterating and refining existing goods (67 percent) (32 percent ). This is partly due to a lack of funds for risky initiatives on the side of publishers, but it is also due to the fact that most publishers now have a clear path to follow.

5.1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Automation

While most publishers are focused on making the most of the current web, there will be a lot of anticipation — and some hype – about what comes next. Artificial intelligence, Web3, encryption, NFTs, and the metaverse will all be used more frequently in the coming year, but what impact will they have on journalism?

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence technologies including Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Natural Language Generation (NLG) have been more integrated into every element of publishers' businesses. Indeed, these are no longer considered "next generation" technology, but are quickly becoming an integral element of every aspect of a modern news operation, from newsgathering and production to delivery.

The Wall Street Journal is demonstrating AI's ability to create 'fluent paragraphs,' where it is being used to produce routine pieces about the state of the markets, freeing up journalists to focus on other activities. Meanwhile, the BBC plans to expand its election results experiment in 2019, which allows hundreds of constituency pages to be automatically created and rebuilt by machine when the statistics change, all in the BBC style.

What can we expect in AI this year?

The next frontier is images and video: DALL-E is a new AI model from Open AI that automates the creation of original images based on text instructions. This might open up a whole new world of possibilities, ranging from simple story illustration to totally new types of semi-automated visual journalism.

Why this matters: Serving audiences with diverse demands using a single website or app is a major challenge for many large media companies. By presenting different versions of a story — long pieces, short articles, summaries, image or video-led treatments – with much better speed, AI gives the option of personalizing the experience without weakening the integrity of the newsroom agenda.

A new generation of modular content management systems, such as Arc from the Washington Post and Optimo from the BBC, will enable this. These systems do not base authoring around a'story,' but rather around 'nested blocks,' which allow better connections across stories, making it easier to reassemble content in potentially limitless ways.

5.2 The Metaverse

Neal Stephenson invented the word metaverse in his science fiction novel Snow Crash, published in 1992. Today, it refers to a wide range of shared online virtual world environments, many of which currently exist in some form (e.g. Second Life, Roblox), but will gradually become more lifelike when virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are introduced (AR). Others associate cryptocurrency with the concept because certain metaverses allow users to buy and sell digital assets using blockchain technology.

What may happen this year?

The metaverse's reporting will grow more'meta': Expect more interviews to be conducted in the metaverse itself as corporations try to sell their vision and journalists try to wrap their heads around the concept. Journalists have been sceptical so far, partially due to the haziness of the ideas and partly due to the fact that the charge is being led by the creators of Facebook.

Though gaming was the beginning point, it's probable that workplace adoption will follow – not least because the pandemic has quickly switched the focus from physical to distant connections.

Sports and news event coverage: Special event producers in television have been some of the most passionate early adopters, always on the lookout for new methods to improve coverage. Broadcasters are embracing mixed reality studios like Eurosport's Cube, which allow hosts to see and interact with content around them while also bringing celebrities into the studio space from various locations.

News distribution options include: It's still early days, but if people spend more time in virtual worlds, part of that time will inevitably be spent with news.

5.3 Web3, Crypto, and NFTs

The move to virtual settings is tied to the evolution of the web, which has gone through several stages as described below, as well as the use of virtual coins for trading digital things. occupied with the news

What can we expect this year?

Increasing the accessibility of NFTs: We should anticipate to see more applications of NFTs this year that go beyond art speculation. Publishers might start experimenting with monetizing family-related archives or creating and auctioning unique membership advantages. This, in turn, will necessitate a significant improvement in the technology's ease of use and accessibility.

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the next wave of internet disruption will be important for business. AI will aid in the automation of production processes as well as the more relevant and personalized engagement of audiences. In media circles, the metaverse, Web3, and cryptocurrencies have generally been dismissed, but a more immersive and distributed web fueled by new ways to sell and trade may eventually open up opportunities — and challenges – for publishers as well. By the end of the year, we'll have a greater understanding of it.