Carter: Regulatory Rebalancing Will Create Opportunities For Journalism
Regulatory intervention to level the playing field between the tech platforms and news media will open up the opportunity for a “more equitable distribution of revenues” across the media sector, News UK’s Dominic Carter has said.
In an interview with Ciar Byrne for InPublishing, Mr Carter welcomed the action by Government to tackle the dominance of the tech platforms: “That regulatory rebalancing is only going to open up the opportunity for a more equitable distribution of revenues across the media sector.”
“We’ve got to a place where our biggest competition – the platforms – have acknowledged the value that we provide in a meaningful way and beyond that, the dynamic is heading in our direction,” he added.
In the wide-ranging interview, Mr Carter spoke about the increased audiences for news media during the coronavirus pandemic and the Government’s use of news media to communicate important public health messages with the public.
“Our newsrooms were already working towards a digital-first approach: they now had permission to fast-track,” Mr Carter said. “What was also interesting was that the growth in consumption wasn’t initially matched by a corresponding growth in revenue because of advertiser blocklists.
“Working as an industry, we helped to educate advertisers that blocklists were a blunt tool and that’s great news for the future of news media advertising.”
In a crowded online marketplace, Mr Carter believes it is vital for news media to make the case to advertisers for the unique value of their audiences and says this is an area where there is still room for development. He said: “We have a long-term, trusted and engaged brand relationship with our readers and that sets us apart from other digital media and the big platforms.”
The phasing out of third-party cookies represents “an unprecedented opportunity” for news media, he said, as does collaboration through joint initiatives like The Ozone Project.
He said news media’s highly trusted relationship with audiences was a key strength of the sector. He said: “Growth lies in building and leveraging that audience relationship, whether that’s as individual publishers or as part of a collaboration like Ozone. News brands are often regarded as ‘legacy’ media, but the real legacy is trusted engagement with our audiences.
“The pandemic has underlined that, as millions have turned to brands like The Times and The Sun for information, analysis and entertainment. It’s worth remembering, when the government wanted to be certain to reach the nation with its lockdown messages, it relied on news brands.”