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.
Sky News thinks subscribers will see the value. “We think that the quality and exclusivity of the content represents a really good value for consumers, says Andrew Thomson, executive director of business operations at Sky News, during a recent interview. The company thinks people eager to learn more about the app’s topics will crave an experience that puts high level analysis “right in the palm of their hands.”
Other mainstream news outlets might pay attention to what Sky News is doing, particularly in a moment when many top journalists are launching independent publications, podcasts and communities — and keeping the money they earn for themselves. Subscribers to “Defence Insider” get video reporting; expert briefings and explainers; interviews with defense experts and decision makers; access to live events and subscriber-only experiences; and the opportunity to ask Sky News journalists and analysts questions directly via online features and community discussions.
“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.
Before launching its new “Membership,” MS NOW executives tapped 18,000 news consumers to find out what features would draw them to subscribe. Many of the interviewees were looking for more than just a place to find the daily news cycle, says Rebecca Kutler, president of MS NOW. “We saw there was a need out there for people who are fans of our content and are looking for more connection points in their life, outside of just what they’re getting on TV or online,” she says.
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.”
At Sky, the work people like Haynes and military analyst Michael Clarke do will also be kept free (or as free as possible) from the vicissitudes of social media. In the company’s new subscription product, there is no flurry of random off-topic comments posted by unidentified users. Instead, subscribers pick the expert they wish to query, says Thomson, and ask them about the information they want. Analysts and journalists get to pick the question they want to answer, either via short video or in a text-based response, and none of it is posted publicly until a response is crafted and checked,
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.