Trends and Topics in Print Media

Every Monday morning, a team of Access media mavens gathers to read the latest trends and topics covered in print media (yes, we still read print media!). The team shares these insights agency wide to ensure we’re all informed and equipped for the week ahead. Every week, we’ll share learnings from the consumer, business and tech spaces here on the Access Point.

This week, we learned that News Corp is developing a news platform, and influencers aren’t limited to the people on our social feed.

• News Corp Aims to Reward Publishers’ Work Adequately

Amidst criticism that some digital platforms—such as Google News—manipulate the types of websites shared and don’t reward publishers, News Corp announced it is developing its own news aggregation service called Knewz.com. Although company executives are still finalizing a timeline and whether the company will actually pursue the launch, the plan is to aggregate news from hundreds of national news outlets, digital-native players, magazine publishers and local newspapers for audiences. Articles will link directly to publishers’ sites, publishers’ will receive audience data and News Corp will supposedly not receive any advertising revenue generated from the articles. The platform’s broader purpose, according to The Wall Street Journal, is “to give exposure to smaller outlets that News Corp executives believe are often demoted” in Google and Facebook’s search results and social feed, including conservative outlets such as the Daily Caller, Daily Wire and Washington Examiner. Stay tuned to see if News Corp (who indirectly owns The Wall Street Journal, by the way!) moves forward with this venture (Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Lillian Rizzo, The Wall Street Journal).

• Meet the “Influencers” Who Literally Decide What Products You Purchase

As influencers continue to dominate our social media feeds, this month’s edition of Allure featured the “ultimate” behind the scenes influencers: beauty buyers. While we are no strangers to #sponsored posts and product roundups, there are tons of people influencing us indirectly, every day – in this case, by way of the beauty aisles in Sephora or your local pharmacy. Beauty buyers are tasked with stocking shelves with their favorite new products, with the intention that you, the consumer, will identify them as the next big trends. Walmart’s resident beauty buyer, Jody Pinson, travels the world to discover “niche” products that she can bring back to the superstore’s shelves. Three years ago, she noticed sheet masks all over Korea and Japan, and immediately brought the insight back to her team to explore in-stores. A reminder that, in the height of the influencer age, follower counts and engagement rates do not exclusively determine the fate of a trend (Cotton Codinha, Allure).