I'll start by sharing a screenshot that got me thinking about this: @LIONPubs' newsletter from last week. Not only does it FEEL like indie news is exploding, but it's now quantifiably true. 50% growth in 5 years?! Huge!pic.twitter.com/shN3RMpCSd
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I'll start by sharing a screenshot that got me thinking about this: @LIONPubs' newsletter from last week. Not only does it FEEL like indie news is exploding, but it's now quantifiably true. 50% growth in 5 years?! Huge!pic.twitter.com/shN3RMpCSd
What's driving growth? 1st: People are increasingly willing to pay for news they value. In 2019, 9% of Cdns paid for digital news and 14% in 2020, a 56% jump in a single year. In the US, the % of people paying jumped from 16 to 20%. Plus, people are paying for more media
2nd: Corporate media continues to decline. Canada lost 50 community newspapers in the first weeks of COVID in 2020, & similar levels of layoffs in the U.S. It's not only newspapers, but also digital players. (RIP @HuffPostCanada.) That creates more space for indies to fill gaps
3rd: Journalists are sick of being treated poorly - especially BIPOC journalists oppressed by white-dominated newsrooms for far too long. Growth of @SubstackInc & @IndiegrafMedia shows how journalists see the opportunity to own relationship with their audience on their own terms
So why is this good for all of us indies? This is a huge upheaval in how people consume news and how it's funded. Cdns have traditionally trusted legacy news brands over indies. The more successful indies out there, the more credibility we are building for each other's brands.
If new indies succeed in convincing people to pay for their journalism, they are contributing to the growth in the number of people willing to pay for ALL our work. We aren't stealing paying audience members from each other. We are creating new paying audience for each other.
I often think about the craft beer industry in BC, which tripled in 5 short years. Collaboration brews are common, where 2 breweries co-brand a beer and introduce their consumers to one of their co-called craft beer competitors.
These craft breweries understand that the most important frontline of competition isn't between craft breweries; it's at the category level. If they work together to convince people craft beer is great, they'll steal market share from macro breweries, and that helps all of them.
This is the opportunity the independent news sector has in front of it. And I'm so encouraged to see new collaborations like @pressforward_ca and all the growth of @LIONPubs. Let's keep cheering for each other!
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