Event: The State of Media & Publishing in Digital

On Tuesday 11th September, ClarityDX were honoured to host an evening for the digital media & publishing industry in London, in collaboration with our friends Bibblio, and WeWork UK.

ClarityDX have over the last few years designed and built a number of projects within the media & publishing sector, ranging from news platforms for scientific publishers to pro beauty bloggers, to publishers of finance and business information.

In order to better understand the sector, the challenges our clients face and the trends they have been noticing, we decided to host an evening, inviting publishers, technology providers and journalists, on their marketing performance, and well – the overall state of their industry.

Is off to 'The State of Media and Publishing' Meetup this evening – who else is going? #stateofmedia @Bibblio_org @ClarityDXUK https://t.co/Uk8Pm3Xjq5

— Esther Kezia Thorpe (@EstherKeziaT) September 11, 2018

The format of the evening was simple. Two quality speakers, sharing some insight into success stories for their wildly differing publications, followed by a panel discussion entitled, “The Future of Media & Publishing”.

On stage, our first two presenters were Linda Blank,  Commercial Director for award-winning travel and lifestyle media publishers Suitcase Media Group, and Dens Milne, Senior Product Manager for IOP Publishing publication, Physics World.

Linda from Suitcase wanted to share how to develop an audience for a new travel/lifestyle brand in a busy market. Six years ago Suitcase launched as a small independent magazine, aimed at consumers with a millennial mindset – not age, which is an important distinction in this case. They saw Suitcase as an opportunity to show travel in an experiential way, without losing the luxury aspect. In order to continue their growth, they expanded the business to become the Suitcase Group which was split into two parts, the magazine and the media group.

Dens from IOP Publishing’s Physics World shared a case study of how by working together with a company called ClarityDX (hey, that’s us!), they have grown their subscription base, and through the power of modern technology, have managed to increase their revenue from advertising by an additional £100k.

The publishing industry is growing! UK consumers actually spend £1.2bn on magazine media – that’s 4 x more than Netflix! @SUITCASEmag #stateofmedia

— Inspired Selection (@Inspiredjobs) September 11, 2018

The online platform for @PhysicsWorld needed a drastic change in 2017 – it was radical and they needed to find a way to use 20 years of great content, loyal readers and advertisers. Using @ClarityDXUK they successfully relaunched in Feb this year! #stateofmedia

— Inspired Selection (@Inspiredjobs) September 11, 2018

A thank you to the recruitment company Inspired Selection, who managed to live-tweet all evening and also wrote up their own recap.

The panel discussion chaired by our own MD Alex Price featured Dens Milne from IOP Publishing, Carl Hazeley, VP Content, Finimize; and Alice Revel, Founder of Reading in Heels, and Mads Holmen, Founder of Bibblio, our partners in co-organising this evening.

The discussion kept the audience engaged and sparked some lively debate, including amongst other things, one positive realisation to have come out of the Donald Trump presidency!

In a society where digital permeates all that we do, Alex asked about the importance of offline engagement. All parties were adamant that this was a prerequisite to success in digital publishing.

Reading in Heels, Finimize have huge success in developing unique experiences with their users and it is clear that people still value offline interaction! Linda Blank stated earlier in the evening that 87% of C-Suite Executives believe in the power of live events and plan to be investing in them more in the future.

What was particularly interesting, was that different publishers were most interested in different digital metrics. Finimize felt for them NPS (Net Promoter Score) was most effective, for Physics World there was a key focus on visitor return rate, and Reading in Heels looked for sales numbers and engagement metrics. What this shows us, is that it is key to know what drives returns for your business, not everyone else’s.

Alice Revel of @ReadingInHeels explains how as a brand, they get amazing engagement offline as an offline brand. There are now so many digital sources, it is increasingly important to create meaningful experiences offline for our users #stateofmedia

— Inspired Selection (@Inspiredjobs) September 11, 2018

A fantastic event this eve – the state of media and publishing in digital is diverse, exciting and its changing everyday! We must continue to engage with our audiences, stay relevant and provide meaningful experiences for our users who will keep coming back for more #stateofmedia

— Inspired Selection (@Inspiredjobs) September 11, 2018

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank those who were in attendance, and we look forward to putting more of these types of events in the future.