Audience Engagement Digital Publishing
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Can you do ecommerce without storytelling? — The Media Roundup

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“A brand new way to shop”: The Independent launches service that keeps readers on site

It’s no surprise that ecommerce is hiiiigh up publishers’ priority lists. Future has gone from strength to strength to slightly less strength on the back of its ecommerce strategy. That, and the vast leap forward in online purchasing habits over the pandemic years, means that we have another little gold rush on our hands.

The Independent, through a new partnership, is trying to maximise its success round ecommerce: “The Independent has invested significantly in its ecommerce operations recently. According to the publisher, sponsored deals with partner brands including Amazon Prime, Samsung and Sky, resulted in growth of 43% from transactional revenues last year, with forecast revenue growth of 41% for FY21/22.”

Unsurprisingly, much of that investment is predicated on the Independent’s storytelling chops. But – as mentioned in our new episode below – for a long time now the Independent hasn’t launched products unless it knows there’s a commercial benefit. Watch this space.

Where online hate speech can bring the police to your door

With far-right extremism on the rise, Germany has gone further than any other Western democracy to prosecute individuals for what they say online, testing the limits of free speech on the internet. I imagine there’ll be quite the firestorm of retaliation if anything similar ever emerges elsewhere.

Local media is seeing more investment. But not in enough places

This is a very well argued op-ed looking at the need for investment in local news: “We are in the middle of a sustained response to the decline in local news. This newfound support just needs to reach more communities, such as mine.”

How Ted Lasso changed the game for Apple TV+

And before you immediately dive in to listen to our newest episode – a special looking at the past year in broadcast media – why not read this excellent exploration of the minutiae of streaming rights from our guest Charlotte Henry.


This content originally appeared in The Media Roundup, a daily newsletter from Media Voices. Subscribe here: