#economicsDEN The Economist to host the Digital Editors Network’s Spring 2018 meeting on changing business models in publishing

The Spring 2018 meeting of the Digital Editors Network (DEN) will be hosted by The Economist on June 12th. Focusing on changing business models in publishing, the event 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.

#economicsDEN host:
The Economist's Denise Law

"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, which is co-organised by François Nel of the Media Innovation Studio at the University of Central Lancashire, 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 focused on diversifying revenues beyond advertising and driving subscriptions is at the top of that list,” said Dr Nel, who is Reader in Media Innovation & Entrepreneurship at UCLan and the lead author of the WAN-IFRA study. “This DEN meeting will bring together those at the forefront of acquiring and retaining subscribers,  bench-marking success, and reducing churn. We will also discuss how to make the entire news operation responsible for subscription success.  He adds, “As is customary for DEN events, we’ll be observing the Chatham House Rule.” 

Confirmed speakers include:

Denise Law, Head of Strategic Product Development, The Economist
Rachel Oldroyd, Managing Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Alan Hunter, Digital Editor for the Times and The Sunday Times
Rebekah Mosson, co-founder of Whereby.us
James Jardine, co-founder of Jamatto, a micro-payment and micro-subscriptions solution for publishers 

Co-sponsored by the Media Innovation Studio and the Innovation Research Group, discussions will be chaired by the DEN’s co-convenors  Lucia Adams, Nick Turner and François Nel.  

The event on Tuesday, June 12th, will run from 2pm-6pm 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. 

From March 12th, attendees can sign up at: https://economicsden.eventbrite.co.uk