UCLan’s Reader in Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship co-organises event
The Spring 2018 meeting of the Digital Editors Network (DEN) will be hosted by The Economist on Tuesday 12 June.
Focussing on changing business models in publishing, the event, which is co-organised by Dr François Nel of the Media Innovation Studio at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), will examine the trends facing news organisations that rely on subscription and membership based revenue, as well as new revenue models including micropayments.
The meeting aims to bring together individuals from across the traditional publishing divide, including editors, journalists, product owners, marketers and senior business decision-makers.
With the decline of advertising, some publishers are increasingly relying on subscription and membership models as a means of generating revenue. This shift has a number of implications for the way publishers operate, and how they interact with their readership. It has also opened the door to more creative subscription models.
"We hope to bring together leaders from both the editorial and commercial sides of the publishing industry to address the challenges facing legacy media companies"
"Our summit will look at how publishers can continue to provide and charge for high-quality content in an industry where business models are changing rapidly,” said The Economist’s Head of Strategic Product Development Denise Law, who will be hosting the event. “We hope to bring together leaders from both the editorial and commercial sides of the publishing industry to address the challenges facing legacy media companies."
With this in mind, the Spring 2018 DEN meeting will include highlights from the latest World News Publishers Outlook report from WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
“Publishers worldwide are focussed on diversifying revenues beyond advertising and driving subscriptions is at the top of that list,” said Dr Nel, who is the lead author of the WAN-IFRA study.
“This DEN meeting will bring together those at the forefront of acquiring and retaining subscribers, benchmarking success, and reducing churn. We will also discuss how to make the entire news operation responsible for subscription success. He added: “As is customary for DEN events, we’ll be observing the Chatham House Rule.”
Co-sponsored by the Media Innovation Studio at UCLan and the Innovation Research Group, discussions will be chaired by the DEN’s co-convenors Nick Turner, Lucia Adams and Nel.
The event on Tuesday 12 June, will run from 2.00pm – 6.00pm at The Economist, The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam St, London WC2N 6HT, with registration opening at 1:30pm and conversations afterwards continuing into a networking reception that wraps at 7:30pm.
