Vice, BuzzFeed or even the Huffington Post : all were the envy five years ago in the media world. At a time when newspapers around the world were facing an unprecedented crisis, these new digital-only platforms experienced phenomenal growth with their content tailored for “millennials”, mixing entertainment and information. However, all this frenzy was only temporary.
THE New York Times revealed on Monday that Vice was in the process of declaring bankruptcy, for lack of investors capable of assuming the debts that the American company had accumulated during its phase of unbridled growth. As recently as the end of April, it was the turn of its competitor BuzzFeed to announce the closure of its newsroom after a failed public offering and a drop in advertising revenue.
“The ambitions were too big. In 2010, these sites believed they had the miracle recipe for escaping the media crisis. It was a bit of a mirage. […] The sinews of war is advertising. The audience is there. But even if three million people follow you, if you can’t monetize your content, that means you’re not making any money”, illustrates Patrick White, professor of journalism at the Media School of the UQAM.
Patrick White was at the forefront of this effervescence in the early 2010s, when it was believed that these exclusively digital sites – the ” pure players as they are known in the jargon — represented the future of media. Mr. White was, from 2011 to 2018, editor of the HuffPost Quebec, which at its peak had 25 permanent employees, in addition to around 50 freelancers. THE Huffington Post finally ceased operations in Quebec in 2021. The Vice platform closed its office in Montreal in 2019.
Victims of algorithms
The business model of these pure players had previously aroused the envy of the major traditional media groups, worried about seeing young people turn away from newspapers and television. Thus was born in 2017 Rad, Radio-Canada’s “journalism laboratory”. Quebecor bet for its part on the 24 hoursa former free daily, which has become a digital medium that also targets generations Z and Y.
Whether Rad and the 24 hours are holding their own for the time being, the latter was not spared in February by the major cutbacks within the Quebecor empire. Here as elsewhere, these new digital media all face the same problem. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) loses interest in news. In the algorithm, these platforms are identified as news sites and their content is less likely to end up on users’ feeds.
“Facebook had made great promises to the media, and today they are withdrawing. There are disappointments. Many of these media may have bet too much on social networks and they have become dependent on it. We forgot that our audiences on social networks are audiences lent to us by Facebook and Instagram. We don’t own it”, sums up Philippe Lamarre, president and founder ofUrbania.
Looking for a new model
Formerly a paper magazine, Urbania has also become somewhat of a “ pure player ” in the last few years. Its revenues are mainly derived from sponsored content and partnerships. A personal finance article will for example be presented by a bank. Or: a video on sexually transmitted infections will be offered by a medical clinic. This business model is also favored by Narcity, labeled as a news site by Facebook. The Toronto-based company, which mainly relays news on reality TV and the latest trends, has also seen its influence erode.
Traditional media also have to deal with this reality dictated by new algorithms, but the shock is less, because their users have more of a reflex to go directly to their site or their application to consult their content. Some also derive revenue from subscriptions.
The media that came into the world with social networks, like Narcity, are much more at the mercy of Facebook and Instagram, hence this penchant for sensational titles with high viral potential. “We think every day about how we can attract more users directly to our site. It’s difficult, because the audience we are targeting, 20 to 40 year olds, have not developed this habit and generally discover us through Facebook, TikTok or YouTube. We are not like The Press where the New York Timeswhich have much older readerships. […] We absolutely have to seek new income. Everything is on the table. There was even talk of a paywall, although I don’t think that’s going to happen,” suggests Charles “Chuck” Lapointe, co-founder of Narcity and MTL Blog.
The limits of infotainment
Charles Lapointe also congratulates himself on never having taken the turn ” hard news “, contrary to Vice and to BuzzFeed in the USA. These two companies relied on major reports to give credibility to their brand image, while lighter content was to ensure their economic viability by generating clicks. On a few occasions, the work of their journalists has won awards. BuzzFeed even won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Uyghur situation in China.
But in the end, this strategy did not work. One after another, the pure players » forsake the information. ” THE hard news, it’s not paying, and the platforms are starting to understand it. Advertisers don’t like it, and even users don’t want to see it. It’s no use wanting to take yourself for the New York Timess. There is only one New York Times, and if it works, it’s because people are willing to pay to subscribe. People are not willing to pay to get information with BuzzFeed Or Vice », to conclude Charles Lapointe coldly.