Key Highlights

Identifying and Targeting the Right Outlet Audiences: An Axios column lays out the various audiences that comprise the current media landscape. Who are they, and how can we reach them?

In Other News:

• Broadcast/Streaming: Nielsen reports TV viewership for Q1, Morning Brew launches an earnings show, Apollo bids for Paramount
• Print: The Atlantic surpasses 1 million subscribers, LIFE Magazine is coming back, how games are helping The New York Times boost subscriptions, and more
• Social Media: Reddit’s IPO, TikTok faces FTC probe and potential U.S. ban, LinkedIn as a newsroom

Blog Spotlight: Our Senior Managing Director of Growth Damien Moore-Evans discusses the trends and takeaways from his visit to Expo West, a consumer product trade show.

Industry News

Identifying and Targeting Today’s Audiences in Media

The News: In a recent Axios column, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen outlined a list of audiences that are consuming media today. The audiences identified in the column are grouped together using different demographics and beliefs: ideology, age, wealth, job, location, etc.

The Details: The Axios co-founders’ list of audiences includes:

• The Musk-eteers: A fast-growing group of mostly men who are close followers of Twitter, podcasts (e.g., Joe Rogan) and follow independent reporters through social media or newsletters.
• Instagrammers: Young and middle-aged women who prefer visual journalism and influential voices in the creator economy, like Betches News.
• TikTok kids: Most kids, who scroll through TikTok for information and follow big influencers like Mr. Beast, Addison Rae, and Zach King.
• New-age grandmas: Facebook consumers who are trending older and female.
• Right-wing grandpas: Senior citizens, especially men, who prefer Fox News especially in prime time and enjoy popular Fox personalities.
• MAGA mind melders: The new conservative ecosystem that comprises dominant voices like Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovic, Tucker Carlson, and Breitbart.
• Liberal warriors: Readers of The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker who follow people like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. They liked Twitter but left after it transitioned to X under Elon Musk.
• Elite power-consumers: College-educated professionals who read news for passion and for professional enhancement, consume newsletters and are big LinkedIn fans.
• The financiers: Power users of The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and DealBook from The New York Times.
• Niche-ers: Professionals who exploit high-quality, in-the-weeds news about their job. Think Reddit and WhatsApp power users.
• Emerging majority: Upwardly mobile, college-educated Latinos and Black Americans who turn to trusted journalists and Black and Latino influencers.
• Passive-ists: Likely the largest group, with people too busy or disinterested in the news to seek it out. They bump into news inadvertently.

The Takeaway: From the highest of top tiers to the most niche of trade and local outlets, every audience is different. This list of media outlet audiences is a helpful guide for understanding some larger audiences that consume news, whether directly through social media or word-of-mouth. It also serves as a reminder that we must conduct deep research to identify the “who” when telling our stories. Narrowing down and understanding who we want to target helps determine how to reach them – what outlets or influencers make sense to work with and what platforms will get to them best. Remember, being targeted is better; the answer isn’t always the top tiers!

In Other News

Broadcast/Streaming

Nielsen’s Q1 TV metrics are out, finding that Fox News has beaten rivals with 2.07 million viewers, while MSNBC and CNN were up with 814,000 and 467,000 viewers, respectively (Deadline).

Morning Brew launched a weekly show, “After Earnings,” that offers retail investors a look at public companies’ earnings and conducts interviews with their executives (TBN).

Apollo Global Management, which owns Yahoo Inc., Cox Media Group, and others, offered $11 billion to buy Paramount Global’s film and TV studio. At the same time, an independent committee of Paramount’s directors is reviewing a merger offer from Skydance Media (NYT, WSJ).

Print Media

The Atlantic has reached profitability and surpassed 1 million subscriptions due to its successful subscription and paywall adjustments, high-profile writers, and more. The company is exploring AI-based games and search (The Wrap, WSJ).

Games have become one of the main profit earners for The New York Times, which boasts over 1 million subscribers, thanks to hits like Wordle (Kotaku).

Karlie Kloss and her husband, billionaire investor Joshua Kushner, are bringing LIFE Magazine back to print and digital distribution in agreement with Dotdash Meredith (Variety).

Gannett, publisher of USA Today, and McClatchy, operator of about 30 newspapers, have curtailed their relationship with The Associated Press regarding using stories and images. In the meantime, Gannett signed with rival Reuters for global news as they build capacity to publish more original pieces (NY Times).

Layoffs are continuing across media outlets, with G/O Media’s sports outlet Deadspin and the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity being the latest to cut roles. In total, over 1,000 jobs have been cut, including 980 in January and 615 in February (Press Gazette).

The Financial Times has launched a new venture arm aimed at investing in high-growth media and tech companies and has invested in Charter, a future-of-work media startup (Axios Media Trends).

Sports Illustrated owner, Authentic Brands, entered into an agreement with Minute Media, a digital media company, to keep the magazine running (NBC News).

The Baltimore Banner, a non-profit digital news publication launched in 2022, is expanding editorial coverage to surrounding areas and additional niche topics, like business, culture and tech. The outlet currently has 44,000 paid subscribers (Axios Media Trends).

Social Media

Reddit, the popular online forum and social media website, went public and was priced at $34 per share. In its first day of trading, the company rose 48%. (NYT).

The FTC is probing TikTok over an alleged Children’s Online Privacy Protection rule violation. This comes in addition to a House-approved bill urging ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, to sell the platform or risk a U.S. ban, which is making its way through the Senate. (CNN, NYT).  

While Meta is shuttering its Facebook News tab and moving Instagram away from political content, LinkedIn is boosting investment in journalism. With 400+ global publications, it aims to expand its audience via professional content, newsletters, and podcasts while exploring monetization through advertising partnerships and video sponsorships. (Axios Media Trends).

Spotlight

Insights from Expo West 2024

By Damien Moore-Evans

Earlier this month, our Senior Managing Director of Growth, Damien Moore-Evans, traveled across the U.S. to attend Expo West, a premier trade show for natural, organic, and healthy products. Amid the colorful displays of new products, Damien saw emphasis on trends like the use of mushrooms and non-alcoholic beverages. However, one theme dominated the landscape: plant-based products. Damien discusses plant-based products, other trends, and critical takeaways from Expo West that brands can learn to succeed in upcoming trade shows in his blog post.