A note from our Managing Director

Change is a constant in our industry and newsrooms inevitably feel the impact, with internal operations continuously exposed to external pressures. Following decades of transformation from print to digital, newsrooms now face adopting to a new wave of change driven by consumer behaviour and AI search. Alongside changing audience expectations and a more fragmented information market, there is an urgent need to innovate newsrooms more rapidly, and from within.

Yet, amidst these challenges lies a significant opportunity.

At FT Strategies, we firmly believe newsrooms can thrive by embracing thoughtful, step-by-step operational transformation. Speaking to colleagues in the Financial Times’ own newsroom leaves me inspired by the journey we’ve taken from legacy structures to a fully integrated, digital-first newsroom. We’ve witnessed firsthand the long-lasting impact that can be delivered by bringing strategic thinking to editorial leadership, product and technology investment and refined workflows. One of the results of this dedicated work has been, for example, a reduction in the number of articles produced by 20%, while significantly boosting digital performance and reader engagement.

External research highlights key characteristics common to leading digital publishers: strong direct audience relationships, diversified revenue streams, clearly communicated long-term goals and substantial investment in digital capabilities, including technology and AI. The News Sustainability Project highlights that publishers who excel operationally achieve average profit margins of 5%, compared to an average loss of 2% for those without clear strategic communication.

FT Strategies has been quietly doing numerous important projects in newsrooms across the world (take a look at some examples for a large Kenyan client here) to help them achieve these goals. We have focused on analysing and redesigning newsroom workflows, mapping production and audience consumption and identifying the opportunities for technology to bring more efficiency, freeing up space for exceptional journalism that audiences are willing to pay for.

We have also evolved our Newsroom Transformation services, designed for publishers seeking robust and sustainable operational growth. Our goal is to improve commissioning, production, publication and monetisation workflows against the backdrop of audience consumption, technology disruption and financial resilience.

As our work in this space evolves, we are always keen to hear from colleagues and clients from the operational front lines. If you have any observations to share or would like to learn more about how we can help, please get in touch with our expert team. As always, we look forward to partnering with you on your journey.

Joanna Levesque

Managing Director

FT Strategies

FT Strategies evolves its Newsroom Transformation services

Our enhanced proposition helps publishers optimise newsroom structures, integrate cutting-edge technology like AI and foster deeper audience relationships, driving sustainable digital growth and operational excellence.

Learn more

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