Deborah Haynes covers serious stuff, like foreign affairs, national security and defense — the sorts of topics that might not make good fodder for a snarky newsletter or a hot-talk podcast. Even so, her employer, Sky News, has some new ideas about how to reach viewers that could put Haynes in contact with viewers similar to the ones that enjoy those up-and-coming creator ventures.
Sky News, part of Comcast, on Thursday launched a new mobile app all about defense and security, with Haynes and others at its center. Subscriptions to the new “Defence Insider” cost £14.99 per month — about $20.31 in U.S. dollars, more than the fees for a similar subscription to CNN, Fox Nation, or the recently introduced MS NOW “Membership.” Indeed, the price of getting “Defence Insider” is on par with the highest-cost monthly dues for HBO Max or Netflix.
“A lot of people talk about direct-to-consumer,” says Jane Ferguson, founder and CEO of Noosphere, a creator media company that has worked to develop the technology Sky News is utilizing for its venture. For legacy media outlets, she says, Sky News’ ‘Defence Weekly” represents “the first true architecture for it.”
Noosphere, which also operates a creator venture that bundles journalists including Chuck Todd and Brody Mullins under a single subscription, is in talks with “major legacy media in the U.S.,” she says about providing similar technology that would allow mainstream journalists to publish information and video more quicky than is the norm. Ferguson believes such technology would give reporters at traditional news organizations something they truly covet: the chance to work in more entrepreneurial fashion like their counterparts who lead podcasts and newsletters.
“The big fear right now is a loss of talent to third-party platforms — podcasting, your Substacks, social media,” she says. “The truth is if you’re a journalist, it’s tempting to go out on your own, but what you really want is a little more freedom, but to remain with a respected brand.” The promotion and publicity that larger news organizations can bring to bear is just one consideration, as is an ability to put new content directly in front of a large audience that has already been cultivated.
For Sky, the issue is less about trying to keep talent and more about showing up in relevant ways for news aficionados. “How can we help audiences go much deeper with us in a new environment?” asks Thomson, who notes such activity can help diversify revenue. “We know that consumers are increasingly turning to faces and voices they know, and they trust and they respect and they feel they can make a relationship with,” he says. While the goal isn’t necessarily retention of talent, he says, “if that was a byproduct, that is great.”
Some mainstream news companies already seem open to new types of arrangements. NBC News earlier this year stuck an alliance with technology journalist Joanna Stern, who recently launched her own venture, “New Things.” Fox News Channel last year struck a deal that makes the team behind the popular conservative podcast “Ruthless” part of its array of contributors. MS NOW’s new “Membership” subscription product gives customers the chance to ask questions directly of Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Ruhle and others every day — on video.
Some of the nation’s biggest news purveyors are scrambling to find ways to appeal to younger audiences who gravitate more readily to digital outlets that may only have months or a few years of traction. Magid, a longtime consultant that works with local TV news operations and large media companies, has urged news executives to take note of the growing faith viewers place in individual anchors, influencers and creators over news brands.
Jen Psaki, the MS NOW 9 p.m. anchor, has been experimenting with a quick-hit program on YouTube. “I’m delighted to be in a ponytail with my glasses on, just talking 15 minutes about the issues of the day or the stories of the week or the things that haven’t been covered,” she says. “Will that work or not work? We’ll see, right?” But Psaki says she is often approached by younger people who tell her, “I love what you do on YouTube. Like, what else are you doing now?”
Media outlets like MS NOW and others have good reasons to keep expert journalists under their corporate umbrella. “If you have a walled garden of your own content, it means it’s much harder to scrape” by artificial intelligence, says Ferguson. “If your content is in a walled garden, that elevates your brand. You can guarantee to the public that it’s human-generated expertise.”
Such technology brings with it the potential for new economic models to be created by legacy media. Ferguson can envision revenue-sharing arrangements for journalists whose reputation and expertise draws the types of crowds that help fuel media coffers.
“Defence Insider” isn’t meant to vie with specialist publications like Jane’s Defence Weekly, says Thomson, but he expects the new product to appeal to “defense industry professionals, but also the public sector and policy audiences.” Sky was encouraged by audience interest in “The Wargame,” a five-part podcast it co-produced that envisioned how a Russian attack on the U.K. might play out and tapped the expertise of former ministers and military chiefs among others. Haynes played a critical role in telling the story to listeners — just as she will have a central part in the new venture as well.