Meta has confirmed it has begun the process of ending news availability in Canada on Facebook and Instagram, ahead of the implementation of the Online News Act. In an updated blog post, the digital giant says as of Aug. 1, it’s enacting changes that will impact everyone who accesses those platforms in Canada in the next few weeks. For Canadian news outlets that means news links and content will no longer be viewable in Canada. Meta says it’s identifying news outlets based on legislative definitions and guidance from the Online News Act. News publishers and broadcasters outside of Canada will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that content will not be viewable by people in Canada. Facebook and Instagram users in Canada will also no longer be able to view or share news content, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets. Read more here.
Pattison Media’s text-narrated, short-form video app, Kelowna10, has been recognized by the dotCOMM Awards with its highest honour, the Platinum Award, in their Lifestyle App category. The international competition recognizes excellence in web creativity, digital communication and highlights innovators in marketing and communication products and services, judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). Since Kelowna10’s launch in 2001, Pattison Media says over 150,000 unique users have enjoyed the app with an industry-leading average engagement time approaching five minutes per visit.
INFORMS, the international association for Operations Research & Analytics professionals, has published a new study that finds temporarily relaxing or suspending paywall access on news sites eventually leads to an increase in subscribers. Published in the journal Marketing Science, the study was authored by researchers from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul and Emory University in Atlanta. Reinforcing the value of sampling as a marketing strategy, researchers found that when certain news organizations temporarily suspended paywall restrictions on certain stories of public interest, like the COVID-19 pandemic or U.S. presidential election, or provided free access up to a certain number of articles, new visitors were more likely to become subscribers when restrictions were re-imposed. Read more here.
