It’s been driving many journalists crazy since the glory days of print newspapers: that moment when someone would pick up a copy of their local daily or weekly and flip right past the entire “A” section to check their horoscope.
Or the sports scores.
Or the movie and concert listings.
With most publishers now focusing on digital channels, it’s even easier for audiences to bypass news in favor of other content. But that doesn’t mean media organizations should completely avoid covering the latest goings-on within government and other public institutions.
Successful media brands have always understood the importance of what legendary magazine editor Tina Brown dubbed ‘the mix’–a canny ability to juxtapose in-depth reporting and serious journalism with lighthearted human interest stories, self-help articles, and more.
Why news can be a hard sell
Those other elements in the mix, which we’ll refer to her as simply non-news content, aren’t simply important for publishers who want to offer a solid product. It could increasingly be necessary based on the changing economics of the media sector.
This was best summed up at a publishing conference last year in the U.K., where FT Strategies principal Jim Egan suggested non-news content is essential for topline revenue and growth:
If you’re in general news, you’re probably not making money anymore from your core product. The sector is at the point of marginal, if not negative, profitability generally…It just means you need to look for different ways to generate profit in other areas in order to provide the lifeline for your newsroom and so on and so forth.
This is obviously not a new trend. Three years ago Digiday was reporting on publishers creating more non-news sections, or “verticals” as audiences devoted more time to personal interests amid COVID-19. People may have arrived on a news site to get the latest on the pandemic, for instance, but they would stick around (and maybe even subscribe) if something more entertaining was available.
The business case for investing in verticals
A vertical approach has become more popular as media sites began to compete with social media platforms for traffic, and as some of those social platforms began to restrict the ability for publishers and users to share news content with followers.
Non-news content is also a way to attract advertisers who may be skittish about brand safety issues. At the IAB’s Spotlight on News at NewFronts last year, AdExchanger reported on publishers ranging from the Guardian to the New York Times who are doubling down on verticals. The NYT, for instance, has been looking at games, recipes and sports coverage as a way to become part of audiences’ daily habits.
When you choose the right verticals, the payoff can be considerable. The Press Gazette reported in 2023 that digital traffic to travel content was up 24% year-on-year at U.K.’s The Sun, and 115% higher than the previous two years. The same report showed positive growth to verticals like food for Salon, among other sites.
The emergence of audience- and talent-led verticals
Publishers don’t have to produce all this non-news content with their existing editorial staff. Recently The Independent signed a long-term deal with YouTube creator Adam Clery, who will lead a studio producing a range of videos, newsletters, and more.
The latest report from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), meanwhile, found professionally-produced content represents only 51% of what media sites publish, down from 72% in 2019. In its place are articles, videos, and podcasts from content creators, which WARC sees as an extension of user-generated content (UGC).
The WARC report also notes that traditional business sectors that have invested in news sites like automotive and telecoms are giving way to the tech sector, health care, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. This could indicate what kind of verticals will most likely be monetized in the near future.
What publishers need to succeed in building out non-news content
Regardless of where non-news content comes from, media organizations are going to need the ability to innovate with speed if they want to align with audience and advertiser interests. That only comes when you’re working with technology that allows you consolidate multiple tools into a single platform to streamline workflows and reduce costs.
Though you’ll obviously want to do your due diligence before making any big moves, leading publishers have already shown how quickly they can evolve. Take Vox, which is not only well known for breaking down the details behind big headlines but has established verticals in areas like science, money, health, life, and culture.
Vox had been running on its own proprietary CMS, but saw the value in migrating to WordPress VIP and accessing all the functionality that’s tailored for media brands. To make the transition easier, Vox opted for a decoupled approach, whereby the editorial team could continue working with the same front-end while the migration happened behind the scenes.
Despite a large team and extremely tight timelines, Vox worked with WordPress VIP and XWP to manage the replatforming project. They not only pulled it off, but were able to experiment with different features and functionality as part of the discovery process so they could be sure they made the right choices the first time.
Establishing the right foundation for creating, hosting, and managing content isn’t just a way to expand a media brand’s offerings into additional non-news verticals. It also puts publishers in a stronger position to continue the reporting on current events that built their brand and audience trust in the first place.
This is a point that’s worth repeating: being first with the latest on politics, the economy, and what’s happening locally is still the mark of a great publisher, even if it’s not always easy to monetize. A strategy based on verticals could help fill that gap, proving that from a financial perspective at least, non-news can be good news.
Shane Schick, Founder—360 Magazine
Shane Schick is a longtime technology journalist serving business leaders ranging from CIOs and CMOs to CEOs. His work has appeared in Yahoo Finance, the Globe & Mail and many other publications. Shane is currently the founder of a customer experience design publication called 360 Magazine. He lives in Toronto.