Home » 425% Increase In Weekly Digital Subscribers: Google News Initiative & Bastion Transform Reveal Results Of Newsroom Experiments

24 October, 2023

425% Increase In Weekly Digital Subscribers: Google News Initiative & Bastion Transform Reveal Results Of Newsroom Experiments

Edited by B&T Magazine

Google News Initiative (GNI) and Bastion Transform have presented the outcomes of a series of live newsroom experiments including a 500 per cent growth in revenue For Nine Publishing and a 20 per cent increase in content output for the National Indigenous Times (NIT).

Three prominent news organisations were featured in the experiments– Nine Publishing, the National Indigenous Times (NIT), and BusinessDesk New Zealand.

Detailed in a new report, the transformative initiative spanning nine months sought to foster innovation, growth, and editorial excellence within the rapidly evolving media landscape.

Having developed a unique experimental framework, each newsroom used the methodology to explore new digital territories, challenge existing journalism and production practices and test several bold hypotheses.

Gaven Morris, managing director of Bastion Transform and former Director of News at ABC, said newsroom innovation is crucial to maintaining a leading editorial position and audience growth. “Innovation in newsrooms is not an option – it’s essential for journalism to keep pace with contemporary audiences as people change their news and information consumption habits. Great stories told well are never dying, and experimenting with new techniques and technology means newsrooms can stay relevant,” he said.

The framework facilitated six content pilots addressing challenges in storytelling, resourcing, workflows, platforms, data, and technology, resulting in unexpected editorial, cultural, and business transformations.

“BusinessDesk has found the innovation framework incredibly useful, and it is now being applied in our areas of the NZME group. Our AI content, the subject of the first experiment, has grown from strength to strength and is now a key pillar of our marketing and public persona. The assistance from both Google and Bastion has been invaluable” said BusinessDesk publisher and general manager, Matt Martel.

“The National Indigenous Times was proud to participate in this Google Newsroom experiments which saw our newsroom’s productivity boosted by 20 per cent, and a significant jump in readership of our international affairs reporting. Relationships with news partners have been deepened, and our journalists are now more keenly focused on readership metrics driving our editorial focus” NIT CEO Reece Harley said.

Inspired by the success of these pilots, each newsroom leader expressed their commitment to continued experimentation, embracing a bolder approach to foster a culture of continuous learning and change.

“For this project, I wanted to try things our newsroom has never ventured to do, across content and the way we operate. It hugely successful and next time we can be more radical now that we’ve got runs on the board” said Nine Publishing’s executive editor, Tory Maguire.

Uma Patel, Google News Lab ANZ lead is encouraging other newsrooms of all sizes, markets, and mediums to take up the framework outlined in the new report and apply it to their operations. “Journalists experiment every day, whether it’s convincing a source to go on the record, digging out uncovered facts, verifying opaque information or developing a gut feeling there’s more behind the spin. This experiment framework aims to support newsrooms that want to take those same instincts and apply them to ‘test and learn’ innovation outside the news cycle, into long term value for the business,” Patel said.

Success Stories from the Experiments:

Nine Publishing:

A 425 per cent increase in weekly digital subscribers via the “for subscribers” hard paywall.
A 245 per cent increase in watch time on their YouTube channel.
500 per cent growth in revenue and 600 per cent growth in subscribers on YouTube.
Establishment of permanent newsroom initiatives due to increased engagement.

BusinessDesk New Zealand:

Faster information output leading to a new AI focus for NZME.
More journalist time freed up for investigative reporting.
Collaboration with Google on a ground-breaking new AI offering.

National Indigenous Times:

A 20 per cent increase in content output.
Secured two news content partners.
A 22 per cent increase in international story readership.
A 179 per cent readership growth in the Pacific & NZ.

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Bastion Transform businessdesk Google News Initiative national indigenous times Nine Publications nine publishing