MobileGroove

The record number of newsroom closures in 2020 offered unsettling evidence of how difficult it is to maintain a local news outlet in the digital age. In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Millie Tran, chief product officer at The Texas Tribune, which has built a sustainable online local news business that employs more than 60 journalists through a range of revenue sources, including thousands of paying members. From her experience at the Tribune, as well as The New York Times and Buzzfeed, Tran shares how the news outlet aligns editorial with the back-end processes to adapt content and coverage to what most readers find most useful. She also reveals how her team harnesses audience data and innovative news modules and visualizations to drive a 2x increase in homepage views and keep readers coming back.

The shift to on-demand services has undeniably become one of the major stories of media consumption over the last several years. But far too many outlets are missing out on a major opportunity by failing to cater to underserved audiences, such as Spanish speakers who make up an ever-growing share of the U.S. population. In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Rich Hull, chief strategy officer at Vix, an ad-supported streaming service, recently acquired by Univision, which features more than 20,000 hours of free, on-demand programming. With a long history in media production and a wealth of experience engaging audiences with movies, TV and on-demand content, Hull explains why all media companies must acknowledge the demographic revolution, shares his views on the future of streaming, and tells the story behind Vix's massive growth.

Engagement, monetization and moderation are three key challenges for any media platform or social network. Kumu, a livestreaming app that's blowing up with Millennial and Gen-Z Filipinos all around the globe, seems to have figured out all three. In this episode, Peggy Anne Salz talks with Roland Ros, co-founder of the innovative app, which combines elements of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and even Amazon into one super app, featuring 2 million monthly active users and tens of thousands of live broadcasts every day. Ros shares insights on how he's striking a chord with young users, the ways he's lined up an impressive array of investors, and how media companies can more effectively take advantage of live streaming video and audio platforms.

The news media has been in a long-term state of transformation since the rise of the internet. Today, change is the only constant. How can leaders at journalistic outlets navigate the present while building sustainable business models for the future? Continuing our series, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Anita Zielina, director of innovation and leadership at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Anita draws from her own change-making career at several news organizations as well as her current role molding the media leaders of the future to share valuable wisdom on the skills organizational leaders need to ensure the news media's survival.

Audience relationships are everything in media, and never was that more true than during the earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic. To kick off our new series, Peggy Anne Salz talks to Maureen Hoch, editor of HBR.org and managing director of digital content at Harvard Business Publishing, about how the publication quickly adapted to continue serving business leaders with vital journalism, analysis and commentary in a time of crisis—in all of the right formats. Additionally, Maureen shares insights on growing the brand's portfolio of audio content, engaging audiences across various channels and mediums, and much more.