Going beyond Wits University’s annual report on South Africa’s changing media landscape, we explore working solutions and best practices for how journalists and media houses can remain relevant and trusted – and media companies can best monetise their offerings.
Exposing corruption and malfeasance are perhaps the strongest arguments for a free and fair press – and why unethical politicians are the first to denounce the media’s credibility when their actions are called into question. The furore around US President Trump’s impeachment hearing, and the ongoing State Capture inquiry are proof of the need and relevance of reliable reporting.
Not that the media as a whole is blameless: reportage of Trump’s Ukraine scandal is riddled with bi-partisanal takes, while Prince Harry suing the Mail on Sunday (as well as The Sun and The Mirror) highlights that tabloid’s selective and salacious reporting of the Duchess of Sussex. Closer to home, South African media houses wage open attacks on each other – and the reputations of several journalists are being called into question.
At its annual general meeting in June 2019, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), vowed to support the sector in three critical ways: by launching an enquiry into media ethics; looking into a campaign to tax large tech companies through co-operation with government and civil society; and embarking upon research into new models of journalism.
“The notion of an enquiry into media ethics is critically important to the future of journalism. Right now, far too many media are putting the emphasis on getting attention through one-sided reportage and blatant sensationalism,” ventures marketing analyst and media commentator Chris Moerdyk.
Rhodes journalism lecturer, Simon Pamphilon, who teaches JMS3 Communication Design and Media Law and Ethics, is all for the Sanef inquiry. “The allegations the panel will be looking into have been thrown about for a while now, and, even if they are dealt with to some extent elsewhere (for example in the Zondo Commission) I think it is a good thing for the industry to demonstrate that it has the will and ability to deal with these issues. And the fact that it is Sanef itself says something, in that it is editors and senior journalists deciding they want to look at this, rather than anyone else telling them they must do so,” he says.
“There seem to have been a lot of cases involving journalists relying on dubious sources with hidden agendas and not corroborating information, or publishing allegations without giving the people supposedly involved the right to reply. Obviously the starkest example of this was the Cato Manor ‘death squad’ story which had enormous repercussions,” he adds.
Revolutionary disruptions
Sanef is not the only organisation recommending becoming firmer with tech giants – with good reason. The Reuters Institute’s 2019 Digital News Report, released in September and unpacked at the Digital Media Africa conference, highlights the ongoing dominance of US-based tech and social media platforms. The report, which included South Africa for the first time, presents findings from surveys of 75 000 people in 38 markets on the evolution of audience behaviour and trust in news media around the world – and highlights the pressure on media houses to diversify their offerings.
Moerdyk offers a few revolutionary recommendations: “Advertorial, or paid for content, should no longer be considered unethical. It has been proved by TV programmes such as Top Billing and various lifestyle magazines, that consumers do not care whether content has been paid for as long as that content is of a high enough quality. That will be hard to swallow by die-hard editors but regrettably it is the truth of today’s consumer.”
Moerdyk’s sentiments are echoed in the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers’ (WAN-IFRA) September report: Unlocking Journalism Resilience: Adapting a Digital Business Model to Promote Press Freedom, which found that paywalls and membership schemes have had little impact on revenue – and concluded that “news publishers will need a mixed bag of diversified revenue streams to survive, including subscription membership, contributions, events, branded content and other services”.
Moerdyk goes one step further though, by suggesting that advertising and sponsorship revenues “are obsolete”.
“One of the biggest mistakes many traditional media made when dipping their feet into digital waters was to assume that their digital platform was simply an extension of their newspaper, TV or radio station. What they did to their detriment was start giving away their news for free. There are still, amazingly, online ‘news’ sites that continue to operate like newspapers by dispensing information and selling advertising and sponsorship. All of them go to enormous lengths to build up subscriber numbers – many of them reaching tens of thousands more than newspaper subscriptions. What they don’t realise is that these subscribers are gold. These are their biggest assets.”
He’s not suggesting that media houses monetise these subscribers by selling their lists, though. “What it actually means is quite simply selling something to their subscribers. Just like newspapers and magazines such as Readers Digest used to do in the good old days when they offered their subscribers deals on books and music, so today, online portals need to sell something to their subscribers. That’s where the money is.”
Dire though the situation may be, canny media houses have proven that there’s merit in remodelling their offerings, and that they can remain relevant as the fourth industrial revolution takes hold. Taahir Hoorzook, chief financial officer of the Mail & Guardian, says the weekly has to become less reliant on advertising revenue, taking a stronger focus on building reader revenue.
“We need to develop a deeper relationship with readers, so will focus on live events and conversations with them. While digital revenue is growing, it doesn’t come to the publishers, but rather goes to the big tech platforms. Our strength is we understand news, and our events, which will be sponsored, will give live expression to that,” he says.
Hoorzook says the print product is still the M&G’s core business, and that advertising revenue is still important, despite recent struggles, but that readers will need to be made aware that content can no longer be free.
“Naspers is a great example of the monetisation of the online environment,” notes Moerdyk. “They built News24.com, for example, into a formidable information and news portal. Then they used that portal to promote their other online businesses such as kalahari.com (now Takealot.com). They invested in Tencent and numerous other online businesses. Today the newspaper and magazine side of Naspers hardly qualifies for one or two sentences in their annual reports. All one needs to do is have a look at the Naspers organogram to realise that just relying on newspapers and magazines with token online attachments, is simply not sustainable,” he adds.
Token online attachments not sustainable
Lisa MacLeod, head of digital at Arena Holdings and vice president of WAN-IFRA, recently addressed the organisation’s conference in India. “Daily newspapers average about a 16% year on year decline. Paid content is still in its nascent stages, but we have added a significant number of subscribers. Online margins are about 30% higher compared to print because we save the cost of delivery,” said MacLeod. “Our active digital users represent about 35% of our subscriber base and that number is growing,” she told delegates.
The company has undergone a massive overhaul in terms of digitisation, but remains a media business. It has an internal wire system designed to share content from all its titles for web and print. Stories are commissioned across the group, and a big events area (where the Zondo Commission is currently sitting) has boosted revenue.
Events and e-commerce have certainly helped innovative newspaper and magazine brands retain market relevance, with the latter still showing remarkable room for growth, if a US report on the industry in South Africa is anything to go by: according to export.gov, South Africa’s online spend forecast projected annual growth rate of 15% through 2021, with media products such as books, CDs, DVDs, and games topping South Africa’s product category.
Cosmopolitan, one of the most steadfast magazine titles in the world, is a case study in successfully transitioning from single to multi-platform. This, says Associated Media Publishing CEO, Julia Raphaely, has been achieved through “always remaining relevant to their audience, delivering exceptional content and being able to stimulate and drive the conversations that really matter”.
The magazine launched its Ready to Shop (RTS) app about a year ago, with QR codes (quick response barcodes) scattered throughout the magazine that allowed readers to scan and shop directly off the page.
It also ran QR codes on the covers of all its titles, which did come in for a bit of flak on social media. As one reader pointed out, she buys magazines on covers, and a QR code didn’t quite swing it.
“Our objective in creating RTS was to serve our audience better and remain relevant to both our consumers and our partners,” notes Raphaely. “We did this by leveraging our editorial influence, our brand authority, and our insights.”
The project is paying off, with, she says, with RTS results from December 2018 to April 2019 showing real growth:
• QR scans grew from 7 000 to 17 430
• Page views in shops grew from 47 000 to 84 441
• Products loaded in the shop grew from 1 500 to 3 174
As she says, “Magazine media can play an important role in helping this part of the economy grow via our brands’ influence, and we therefore want our medium to be a driver and not a bystander.”
Leveraging the Hashtag: Innovative campaigning for relevance
With real, relevant content being a priority for any publishing outfit, canny brands have long been leveraging the power of the hashtag for stirring conversation and highlighting social issues, and South African media is waking up to the benefits.
In September 2019, Independent Media launched #MyPromise, a clarion call for men to speak out about gender-based violence. It’s not the first campaign from the Independent stable, with previous campaigns including #RacismStopsWithMe, #DontLookAway and #DignityProject.
Cosmopolitan, too, has been at the forefront of innovation content and campaigning, most notably with their striking February 2018 cover featuring the global brand’s first ever transgender model, Laverne Cox. “The goal was to disrupt hetero-normative ideas around Valentine’s Day and look at love in 2018 – including acceptance of self, others and non-binary relationships,” says AMP CEO, Julia Raphaely. The results speak for themselves: “On social media, the campaign hashtags #COSMOxLaverne and #SayYesToLove reached 17-million within 72 hours, and the story went worldwide with coverage on E! News, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post and Allure, among others.”
Cosmo also covered actress and UNHCR ambassador Nomzamo Mbatha in their August 2018 #activismissue, timed with SA Women’s Day (reaching 15 million readers in the first 48 hours), and featuring Mbatha dressed in a custom bodysuit printed with the words: womandla, feminist, #timesup, fearless, female, power, #metoo and activist. 500 Limited Edition covers, featuring Mbatha wearing a doek in the same printed cloth were released, with R5 from every issue sold going to a woman’s empowerment charity.
Cosmo has also placed the spotlight on influencers, featuring local YouTube influencers Mihlali Ndamase, Nadia Jaftha and Jessica Van Heerden for their March 2019 cover, which was also the brand’s first ever selfie cover globally. They extended on this by partnering with YouTube & Google in SA, and hosting a series of YouTube challenge videos, as well as a panel at the Google South AfricaWomen Will International Women’s day event featuring Cosmo editor Holly Meadows and the cover stars.
Their April 2019 cover of local celebrity and influencer Bonang Matheba reached a 25-million strong audience in the first 48 hours, and having Matheba as headline speaker at the COSMO Career Summit on 4 May proved equally beneficial, as the event sold out within 24 hours.
