Introduction by PPA CEO, Sajeeda Merali

The Specialist Media Sector has long been a cornerstone of media consumption, offering trusted in-depth coverage around issues that matter to consumers – from business insight to communities united by a common interest.

Publishing today stands as a dynamic reflection of the ever-changing preferences, trends, and technological advancements that shape the modern media landscape. This report delves into the current UK market, with insight from PPA members, sharing their learnings and challenges from the last few years, plus trends and opportunities that define the industry in the present day and looking to the future.

One thing is certain, one size no longer fits all.

As digitalisation continues to reshape the way information is accessed and consumed, specialist media has not been immune to its transformative effects. Print and digital platforms coexist in an ever-shifting balance, offering readers both the tangible experience and the convenience of instant access to content at their fingertips. The continued rise of social media, the proliferation of online communities, and growth of subscription models, have provided further opportunities for the market, demanding that magazine publishers continuously recalibrate their strategies to retain and grow audience engagement.

In their conversations with PPA members, the authors of the report – Katahdin Media Management – examined the trends, strategies, and dynamics that shape the industry, and offer useful insights for publishers and their teams looking to recalibrate themselves as we navigate this dynamic and ever-evolving landscape.

Executive Summary by Katahdin Media Management

A market defined by confidence, optimism and opportunity.

In this report we capture the narratives that reflect the way specialist media businesses are operating and succeeding in a media landscape now – one that has changed significantly in recent years.

Many publishing businesses are facing similar challenges in an industry that seems to be in a state of continuous evolution. By capturing the stories involving transformation and the reimagining of long-established business models, this report provides ideas, options, and inspiration to PPA members. Some of the high-level themes that came through included: positive revenue reports that revealed a notable shift to consumer sources; optimistic revenue outlooks based on investments in new formats and initiatives; measurable progress on both the ED&I and sustainability fronts; improvements in talent strategy; creative new uses of data with a focus on first-party insights; and early indications of broad AI explorations, which will be game-changing for those who can harness its capabilities.

We also found some intangibles: an inner strength, a willingness to experiment and break rules that don’t apply anymore, and a renewed faith in our core value: trusted quality content.

This report also contains a treasure trove of valuable, practical, replicable best practices and success stories that emerged from the interviews with PPA publishers across the full spectrum of the membership – small to large, B2B and B2C.

One publisher coined a term that captures the new nature of a publishing business model: “Active rebalancing”. Harmsworth Media CEO and PPA Chair Nina Wright explained that it is a system of “constantly reshaping the business model and recalibrating the revenue mix based on what is working with the consumer and what is generating profit.”

In conversation after conversation, we heard that buoyant optimism. The widespread excitement about the future was an inspiring change from the very recent difficulties and was therefore truly uplifting. We trust that you, too, will be inspired when you read this report.

Here are some of the more notable survey takeaways:

• Optimistic outlook for revenue: In comparison to 2022, twice as many publishers anticipate moderate to strong revenue in 2023 in memberships and podcasts. Fifty five percent more publishers envision strong to moderate growth in newsletters, and 36% more see growth in digital subscriptions. What is especially encouraging is that the areas with the strongest performance and the strongest predicted growth in 2023 are areas of consumer revenue where members of our audience are voting with their money for the value of our content and experiences. Live events, digital subscriptions, memberships, and newsletters all turned in robust results in 2022 and publishers expect anywhere from 15% to 100% performance growth in 2023.

• Talent strategies take a big leap forward: Improvements were made in more recruitment and retention areas in 2022 than we can ever recall happening in a single year. Nearly three-quarters of PPA publishers raised salaries, increased training opportunities, expanded career development options, instituted permanent flexible/hybrid working schedules, and/or improved onboarding. Each change was impressive, but taken together they make those companies much more attractive to quality candidates and to existing employees.

• Huge gains in sustainability initiatives: More than two-thirds of PPA publishers have a corporate sustainability plan and invested in education to empower staff to meet goals. Roughly half of the membership has designated a sustainability lead and uses sustainability performance to choose suppliers.

• Huge gains also in ED&I: Half of all PPA publishers are engaged in an array of ED&I initiatives, including creating internal ED&I teams, designated programme leaders, staff satisfaction surveys, and leadership engaged around ED&I strategies. Others are holding managers responsible for ED&I progress and reporting pay gaps.

• AI exploration beginning: PPA media companies are exploring AI, including its use in content research, SEO, copyediting, content summaries, and chatbots. Copyright, Intellectual Property and the value delivered by trusted journalism continues to be front of mind.

• Data is being used in almost every strategic decision: More than 80% of PPA members are using data for subscriber retention and acquisition. Roughly half are using it for content monetisation and ad targeting, with three-quarters using it for lead/demand generation. Data and insights around audience preferences and personas, continue to inform new product development.