Audience engagement, climate commitments and expansion: Twipe’s Weekly News Digest

Welcome to Twipe’s Weekly News Digest after a week’s holiday! This week, we take a look at stories from across the world of publishing and news tech, touching on topics like audience engagement experiments, Net Zero Carbon Emissions Commitments, a US expansion and more. Read our top 5 stories of the week below.

1. From Boomers to Gen Z: The surprising ways US News Media is captivating audiences across generations

On 2nd March, we held our first Future of News Seminar in North America. We were joined by news media leaders from organisations including ABC News, Gannett, New York Times, AJC, Axios, News Product Alliance and Newscorp to discuss the changing needs of readers across generations. In a wide ranging discussion, we heard about the surprising ways which news media are making efforts to reach readers from all generations.

Read the full write up from the event here.

2. The New York Times Company Announces Pledge for Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2030

US publishing giant The New York Times spent 2022 conducting a greenhouse gas emissions inventory as publishers bid to be more conscious about their environmental impact. Ahead of publishing their Scope 1 (emissions from owned or controlled sources) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from generation of purchased energy) emissions this year, the publisher has made a commitment to aim for Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2030. This is a significant commitment from a publishing powerhouse and will be a fascinating story to monitor.

Find out more in The New York Times‘ press release here.

3. German publisher Axel Springer says journalists could be replaced by AI

Axel Springer have been in the news for several reasons across the last few weeks, with Brian Morrissey in particular taking an in depth look at the German publisher’s US ambitions in The Rebooting. Last week also saw the publisher announce that AI could replace journalists, in fact CEO Mathias Doepfner warned that job cuts lay ahead because automation as AI and automation were increasingly making many journalism jobs redundant. In the statement, Doepfner did promise that no cuts would be made to the number of reporters, authors or specialist editors. As AI continues to creep into journalism, watch this space.

Get the full story on The Guardian.

4. Mediahuis shows resilience and posts strong results despite difficult economic context

Last week, Mediahuis published their annual results for 2022. Despite a difficult year of economic uncertainty, the publisher posted a strong result with consolidated turnover rising to $1.2 billion. Highlights in the report include the impact of sharply rising energy prices, particularly in the Dutch and German markets, the ability to keep subscriber numbers steady at 1.8 million and the success of the publisher’s digital transition with more than 4 in 10 subscribers now reading digitally.

Find the full results here.

5. Financial Times launches FT Edit app in the US

Following the success of the UK launch of FT Edit, last week the Financial Times announced the expansion of FT Edit into the US market. The publisher have appointed Caryn Wilson as the Editor for their US Edit operations, with the role including the opportunity to develop and improve the operations of FT Edit. The move highlights the success of digital editions and shows their potential to attract readers across the world.

Read more here.