The new media: Sky News, Substack and adapting to a changing landscape

The way the media works is changing, with many traditional outlets struggling to survive and new ones emerging in their place. Account Executive Tom Horn explains what’s happening and how to adapt your communications strategy.

On Tuesday, Sky News announced their new strategy, Sky News 2030. It outlined the broadcaster’s plans to build a digital first model, where users pay for premium content like podcasts, newsletters and events.

The plan says Sky’s linear TV channel will receive significantly less resource and will become secondary to its paid for digital offering. The linear channel has always made a loss, and Sky’s parent company Comcast has only committed to funding it until 2028. With a new digital first approach, it’s unlikely the funding will be renewed and the linear channel will close.

Amid the news frenzy of DeepSeek, Trump and Rachel Reeves’ growth speech, the announcement went almost unnoticed – interesting, given Britain only has three linear news channels.

Interesting, but not surprising. Why? Because it’s seemed inevitable for a long time.

Linear TV advertising has been “largely stagnant”, according to Sky’s Executive Chair, and viewership has been squeezed by the growth of rival channel GB News, and, more significantly, the changing way in which we consume news.

2024 was the first year ever where more people got their news online than via television. And it’s not just TV audiences which are in decline – just 34% of people get their news from a print or online newspaper, compared with 51% in 2018. A nearly 20% fall in six years.

Meanwhile, a ‘new media’ is emerging. You’re probably engaging with it without even noticing – it’s gradually become an important of our media landscape.

What is the new media? Effectively, it’s content on any media platform which didn’t exist twenty years ago. The big beasts include social media, podcasts, YouTube and, increasingly, newsletter platform Substack.

These platforms have seen significant growth in recent years. Take Substack. The platform allows writers to send newsletters directly to their readers quickly and easily. It enables people to charge for their writing, if they want to, using a subscription-based model.

The site has proved extremely popular with writers covering niche topics which wouldn’t get covered in traditional media, and as a platform for longform journalism. Founded in 2017, it now has 20 million active subscribers.  

What does this success tell us?

First, how we consume media is evolving quickly.

As our lives evolve, so does how we gather information. We no longer live in a nine to five world, where everybody watches the Six O’Clock news.

Instead, working patterns are more scattered, and our lives are busier. Most people don’t have time to sit down and watch half an hour of TV news. But they probably do have time to listen to a podcast, watch a short video, or read a newsletter on their commute. Our changing habits reflect this.

Second, the media is becoming more divided, and more personal.

With the emergence of new platforms, come new choices. There is a podcast, YouTube channel or newsletter covering almost any topic, however niche, in an insightful way. The days of everybody reading and watching the same things are long gone, so it’s more difficult to reach a mass audience.

Third, audiences are becoming hyper-engaged.

While you’re likely reaching less people when using new media platforms, those you do get to will be extremely engaged and willing to listen to what you say.  

Sky explicitly stated that their new strategy would rely on “engagement over reach.” Why would a mainstream broadcaster admit that they’re ok with less people watching their content? Because prioritising engagement is highly lucrative.

With so many choices for what to consume, if a listener/viewer/reader has chosen to engage with your content, they really wanted to engage with it. They’re much more willing to take action based on the content they’re consuming, compared with a TV advert designed to appeal to the masses. This makes each piece of PR much more influential.

With so many changes, how do PR people like me adapt? How do we continue delivering great coverage for clients when many of the outlets we use now won’t exist in a few years’ time?

The answer is simpler than you’d think. The principles of great PR remain the same: building relationships and providing great content. The difference is that we need to be faster, more dynamic, more creative in how we deliver.

A less is more approach will be necessary. Less churning out huge numbers of press releases, more coverage in bespoke outlets with highly engaged audiences.

Success will require more outside the box ideas, and due diligence into which outlet is right for which story. With more platforms available than ever, it will be difficult to sift through and find the right one.

This all sounds daunting, because it is. But, as with any change, there’s also a huge sense of excitement and anticipation across the industry.

The best way to meet the challenge is to start researching, understanding and building new relationships now.

At Tarleton, we’re putting this at the core of our planning for the next few years, because whether we like it or not, the new media is coming. The only question mark is whether we’re all prepared for it.