Friday Five: Publishing Updates and Subscription Trends
Welcome back to Friday Five! This week, we talk about TikTok launching a new publishing company, the FTC suing Amazon over deceptive practices, Google and Meta planning to block news in Canada, the future of print magazines, and News subscription prices falling to record lows.
TikTok Launching a New Publishing Company
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is launching a new publishing company. ByteDance hopes to use its reach on TikTok to identify and promote books that are popular with its users. Some in the book community are concerned that ByteDance will create an unfair playing field, giving its own authors an advantage over others. Read the full article.
FTC Sues Amazon Over Deceptive Practices
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Amazon Prime, accusing the company of deceptive practices related to sign-ups and cancellations. The FTC claims that Amazon tricked consumers into signing up for Prime or opting for automatic renewals, and also making it difficult to cancel the subscription. Read the full article.
Google and Meta Plan to Block News in Canada
The Canadian Parliament has passed the Online News Act, which would require Google and Facebook to pay publishers for content. The legislation, which is modeled after Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, is expected to generate CA$329 million in revenue for Canadian news publishers. Read the full article.
The Future of Print Magazines
The UK magazine industry is declining, with the total number of purchased print titles falling by 70% from 2010 to 2022. Consumer spending on print magazines has declined significantly, from £1.4bn in 2010 to less than £500m in 2021. The closure of Prinovis, the last major rival to Walstead, is a sign of the ongoing decline of print publications. Read the full article.
News Subscription Prices Fall to Record Lows
A new study by media company Toolkits found that promotional subscription prices for news publishers have fallen by 43.4% over the past year. The study found that the top 10 newspapers that offer promotional digital subscription pricing have seen a price decrease of 16% from June 2022 to 2023. Highlighting the increased competition in the subscription market, many publishers are reducing their prices to attract and retain consumers. Read the full article.