On this 50th episode of Media Voices, we hear from New Scientist’s head of data science Kimberly Karman about the practical application of data science to a business, how to tackle GDPR and how they continue to evolve their decade-old paywall.
In the news round-up, the team discuss VICE reportedly missing its revenue target, Trinity Mirror buying up Express Newspapers, and good news for the NYT and Twitter.
We’re reading:
- ‘Bikini slideshows and other click bait: Do paywalls usher in better content?’ via Mollie Bryant
- ‘A Crazy Idea for Funding Local New: Charge People for It’ via NYT
- ‘How Facebook is killing comedy’ via Splitsider
In our own words: Esther Kezia Thorpe
For many of our podcasts, it’s genuinely a tough job narrowing down the topics we want to talk about to a 20-minute interview. This was no exception, and so this episode covers a variety of topics, from actioning data insights across digital and print products to the evolution of a decade-old paywall strategy.
GDPR is front-of-mind for many publishers at the moment and directly affects Kimberly and her team, so it was refreshing to hear her talking about it as an opportunity. A key takeaway around the issue of consent is that New Scientist see it as their responsibility as a publisher to make their content valuable enough that people want to opt in, and see the value in being a part of the community.
Kimberly came up through New Scientist on the marketing team and audience development before taking up the role as head of data science. This gives her a unique perspective – not only does she have a very scientific approach to the data she deals with, but she’s got a deep understanding of who the New Scientist audience is and what they respond to.
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