Enders Analysis’s Douglas McCabe gave one of the keynote addresses at the recent PPA Festival.
His talk was titled, ‘The consumer evolution: what will drive growth for publishers in 2025 and beyond?’ and his central message to publishers was, be useful!
In his talk, Douglas touched on two of the seismic shifts of the last twenty years; firstly the ballooning amount of time we all spend on our smartphones, which has completely destroyed any sense of ‘business as usual’, and, secondly, the recent rapid uptake of AI, which represents as much of a crossroads for media as the arrival of the internet.
Despite the challenges, Douglas sees grounds for optimism.
We live in an age of specialism, something which plays to publishers’ strengths, in particular magazine media’s. Profitable futures will be built around content, usefulness and community. As AI proliferates, human recommendation will become more important than ever, he said, so publishers need to promote their humans!
AI will accentuate a two-tier internet, and publishers need to make sure they are in the top tier. To be there, they need to think very carefully about their usefulness and not to be distracted from that.
“You need to understand your audience and the promise of your brand and that will tell you how to deliver it,” said Douglas: “If you can be useful, you will be valued, and it is up to you what levers you use to realise that value.”
Douglas mentioned two other things that gave grounds for hope. Firstly, contrary to once widely held views, young people are prepared to pay for online content.
Secondly, digital fatigue is a thing. Apparently, half of Instagram users would prefer it if the platform didn’t exist!
Clearly, he said, what people do and what they value are not identical.
This represents an opportunity for premium publishers today — be specialist, be human and be useful.
(Finally, don’t miss our ‘Subscriber Acquisition Special - Q&A’ webinar this afternoon. You can register now, here.)
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