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> The New York Times is the only legacy media company to successfully pivot into digital, and pivot properly at that. I'm more familiar with the UK media marke

by Veen 5y ago

> The New York Times is the only legacy media company to successfully pivot into digital, and pivot properly at that. I'm more familiar with the UK media market, where quite a few legacy media publications have pivoted into digital successfully. Whatever you think of the Daily Mail/Mail Online, it's very successful. The Guardian is doing well without a paywall (although it has a large endowment to sustain it). Smaller publications such as the Spectator (which is about legacy as it gets) are doing well with a digital subscription model. And then there's The Economist, of course.

filmgirlcw 5y ago
I think the Daily Mail is a good example and this is a reminder to never speak in absolutes. That said, I don’t think any of those other examples pivoted the way the Times pivoted. The Times didn’t just digitize the newspaper or combine the newsrooms. It started to do real digital first and product first investments. The Cooking app, the Games vertical, the investment into audio and video, the tremendous investment in data tools for its journalists for multimedia storytelling (consider the impact of Snow Fall, even a decade later). The Daily Mail may have successfully managed profitability, but I wouldn’t put it on par with the transformation that happened at The Times. The Times looked at the innovation happening at BuzzFeed and Mashable (where I worked for many years) and Vice and Vox and has not just been able to compete with them, I would argue that it has largely vested them. Whatever else you think of their journalism, that alone, is nothing short of remarkable. And I cannot think of another legacy media company that has transformed itself the same way.
native_samples 5y ago
Well, success in this context means digital+profits. There's nothing particularly digital about the Guardian's work - it's just ordinary text - and they are incredibly unprofitable. They really shouldn't count.

by Veen 5y ago

filmgirlcw 5y ago

I think the Daily Mail is a good example and this is a reminder to never speak in absolutes. That said, I don’t think any of those other examples pivoted the way the Times pivoted. The Times didn’t just digitize the newspaper or combine the newsrooms. It started to do real digital first and product first investments. The Cooking app, the Games vertical, the investment into audio and video, the tremendous investment in data tools for its journalists for multimedia storytelling (consider the impact of Snow Fall, even a decade later). The Daily Mail may have successfully managed profitability, but I wouldn’t put it on par with the transformation that happened at The Times. The Times looked at the innovation happening at BuzzFeed and Mashable (where I worked for many years) and Vice and Vox and has not just been able to compete with them, I would argue that it has largely vested them. Whatever else you think of their journalism, that alone, is nothing short of remarkable. And I cannot think of another legacy media company that has transformed itself the same way.

native_samples 5y ago

Well, success in this context means digital+profits. There's nothing particularly digital about the Guardian's work - it's just ordinary text - and they are incredibly unprofitable. They really shouldn't count.