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Why Media Can’t Quit Twitter

by Om Malik
This post is by Om Malik from On my Om

Last week, when reading Ben Smith’s newsletter, I came across a graphic based on a poll conducted by MuckRack. It showed that media folks weren’t pulling back from Twitter despite much handwriting and mock outrage, just as they didn’t move away from Facebook. The switch to Mastadon made for a grand narrative, but like most of the stuff on Twitter, it was great marketing. When I pointed out this hypocrisy, Anil Dash (an early blogger and early Twitter user rightly noted that the “prestige media won’t go to the fediverse for another 2 years, same lag where they didn’t think Twitter existed until after Ashton Kutcher legitimized it.”

“They would rather cover Musk talking about things that he not only won’t do, but couldn’t do, than actual new tech made by real people,” Dash added. “They love failure by tycoons a lot more than success from regular people.” The argument made by Dash was so exemplary that Ben got a little defensive. A week later, in his newsletter, he linked Casey Newton’s piece, arguing that they have to cover Musk’s chaos. I see it differently. Twitter following accords media people’s self-relevance and allows them to be part of the news cycle theater. Or as Newton puts it: “…journalists who have come to rely on it, there is almost no indignity they won’t suffer to get their fix.” 

April 9, 2023. San Francisco

Charting Revenue: How The New York Times Makes Money

by Freny Fernandes
This post is by Freny Fernandes from Visual Capitalist

When it comes to quality and accessible content, whether it be entertainment or news, consumers are often willing to pay for it.

Similar to the the precedent set by the music industry, many news outlets have also been figuring out how to transition into a paid digital monetization model. Over the past decade or so, The New York Times (NY Times)—one of the world’s most iconic and widely read news organizations—has been transforming its revenue model to fit this trend.

This chart from creator Trendline uses annual reports from the The New York Times Company to visualize how this seemingly simple transition helped the organization adapt to the digital era.

New York Times revenue in a bar chart

The New York Times’ Revenue Transition

The NY Times has always been one of the world’s most-widely circulated papers. Before the launch of its digital subscription model, it earned half its revenue from print and online advertisements.

The rest of its income came in through circulation and other avenues including licensing, referrals, commercial printing, events, and so on. But after annual revenues dropped by more than $500 million from 2006 to 2010, something had to change.

NY Revenue By YearPrint CirculationDigital SubscriptionAdvertisingOtherTotal
2003$623M$1,196M$168M$1,987M
2004$616M$1,222M$165M$2,003M
2005$616M$1,262M$157M$2,035M
2006$637M$1,269M$172M$2,078M
2007$646M$1,223M$183M$2,052M
2008$668M$1,068M$181M$1,917M
2009$683M$797M$101M$1,581M
2010$684M$780M$93M$1,557M
2011$659M$47M$756M$93M$1,555M
2012$681M$114M$712M$88M$1,595M
(Read more...)

Mapped: The Most Popular Video Streaming Service By Country

by Freny Fernandes
This post is by Freny Fernandes from Visual Capitalist

The graphic highlights the streaming services with the highest subscribers in every nation.

Mapped: The Most Popular Video Streaming Service By Country

In recent years, video streaming has become an integral part of global entertainment. From Netflix and Amazon Prime to HBO Max and Apple TV, consumers today have many choices when it comes to streaming services.

While some prefer services with their favorite shows and movies, others opt for the most affordable or content-packed options. Often, users band together friends and family and subscribe to multiple streaming services, though some services like Netflix have started to clamp down on the practice.

This graphic by theWORLDMAPS uses data from FlixPatrol to highlight the streaming services with the most subscriptions by country in February 2023.

Most Subscribed Streaming Services in 2023

With the highest number of subscribers in 78 countries and over 220 million customers globally, Netflix was the most popular video streaming service in the most countries.

Streaming ServiceTop in Number of Countries
Netflix78
Canal Plus17
Shahid16
Showmax15
Amazon Prime5
KinoPoisk5
iFlix4
GO33
ivi TV3
Tencent Video2
Globoplay1
BluTV1
Disney+1
Viu1
WatchIT1

In many countries including the UK, Brazil, Germany, France, and Mexico, Netflix had the most subscribers of any service. That’s more than delivery subscription and streaming service Amazon Prime and its 200 million global subscribers.

Because of its large userbase, however, Prime can claim more subscribers than Netflix in five countries: Afghanistan, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, (Read more...)

Ranked: Who’s Won The Most Grammy Awards?

by Pallavi Rao
This post is by Pallavi Rao from Visual Capitalist

This graphic shows the artists with the most Grammy awards as of 2023.

Ranked: Who’s Won The Most Grammy Awards?

At the recent 65th Grammy Awards, Harry Styles, Lizzo, and Bonnie Raitt won the year’s biggest awards.

But several other music stars and celebrities, including Beyoncé with four awards from nine nominations, were also feted by the musical community.

The results of the night were historic when it comes to the most Grammy-awarded artists, with a reshuffle happening at the very top. This graphic from Athul Alexander highlights the artists with the most Grammy wins of all time. Data is sourced from the Grammys’ official website and was updated with the latest results as of February 5, 2023.

Most Grammy Award Wins as of 2023

After the latest ceremonies, global megastar Beyoncé tops a list of record holders and fiercely talented artists, just ahead of celebrated composer Sir Georg Solti.

RankArtistGrammy Awards
1Beyoncé32
2Georg Solti31
3Quincy Jones28
4Alison Krauss27
4Chick Corea27
6Pierre Boulez26
7Vladimir Horowitz25
7Stevie Wonder25
7John Williams25
10Jay-Z24
10Kanye West24
12Vince Gill22
12U222
14Pat Metheny20
14Al Schmitt20
14Bruce Springsteen20
14Henry Mancini20
14David Frost20

Despite their closeness in awards received, the two artists are as different as chalk and cheese. On one hand there’s Beyoncé, who has spent 26 years in the industry. She started as a part of (Read more...)

A Visual Breakdown of Global Music Consumption

by Omri Wallach
This post is by Omri Wallach from Visual Capitalist

This image shows a breakdown of platforms music listeners prefer to use.

A Visual Breakdown of Global Music Consumption

To maximize any chance of success in the music business, aspiring artists must gain an understanding of how music is consumed and how that is changing alongside technology.

This graphic from Athul Alexander highlights global music consumption habits. Data is from 2022 and is sourced from a survey of over 44,000 people from 22 countries by IFPI that asked people their primary mode for consuming music.

As of 2022, paid subscription services (i.e. Apple Music, Spotify) are the most preferred option for listeners, accounting for nearly one-fourth of main platform share.

RankServiceShareExamples
1Paid Audio Streaming24%Spotify, Apple Music
2Video Streaming19%YouTube
3Radio17%
4Purchased Music10%Vinyls, CDs, purchased digital albums
5Ad-Supported Audio Streaming8%Amazon, Deezer
6Short-form Videos8%TikTok
7Social Media Videos5%Facebook, Instagram
8Live Music4%concerts, livestreams
9Other6%music on TV, phone-to-phone transfers

Short-form video platforms like TikTok, with an 8% share of primary music listeners, are a fast-growing medium. Several young artists have found initial success and traction using these platforms over the past few years.

And though video “killed the radio star,” it hasn’t killed listening to music on the radio. A healthy, 17% of respondents picked radio as their primary avenue for listening to music.

Streaming Supremacy and Virality

There’s no doubt that the internet has revolutionized how music is being consumed.

Including all video and music streaming, internet-based music (Read more...)

Every Song With Over 1 Billion Spotify Streams

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

View the full-resolution version of this infographic

artists with more than one billion streams on spotify

Every Song With Over 1 Billion Spotify Streams

View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.

Spotify has a relatively short history, launching in Europe in 2008, and eventually moving into the U.S. market in 2011. Since then, the Stockholm-based company has become the world’s most popular audio streaming service with 456 million users across 183 markets.

With such a large userbase, major artists on Spotify have seen their biggest hits accumulate millions, if not billions of streams. So, in July 2021, Spotify created the Billions Club, a playlist comprising every song to reach the 1 billion milestone.

We at Visual Capitalist saw this as an opportunity to create a unique data visualization, so we compiled the entire playlist and arranged it by decade and artist.

The Top 10 Artists

Below are the top 10 artists, ranked by their number of songs with over 1 billion streams. The list actually includes 11 artists because Shawn Mendes, Bruno Mars, and Coldplay are tied with 5 songs in the Billions Club.

RankArtistArtist's Monthly ListensSongs With 1 Billion+ Streams
1Ed Sheeran76M11
2Post Malone51M9
2The Weeknd79M9
4XXXTENTACION34M8
5Ariana Grande56M7
5Maroon 550M7
7Drake68M6
7Eminem59M6
9Shawn Mendes43M5
9Bruno Mars51M5
9Coldplay59M5

Sorting this list in different ways can reveal (Read more...)

Visualized: The Top 25 U.S. Newspapers by Daily Circulation

by Avery Koop
This post is by Avery Koop from Visual Capitalist

u.s. newspapers print circulation in 2021

Visualized: The Top 25 U.S. Newspapers by Daily Circulation

Most people today—more than 8 in 10 Americans—get their news via digital devices, doing their reading on apps, listening to podcasts, or scrolling through social media feeds.

It’s no surprise then that over the last year, only one U.S. newspaper of the top 25 most popular in the country saw positive growth in their daily print circulations.

Based on data from Press Gazette, this visual stacks up the amount of daily newspapers different U.S. publications dole out and how that’s changed year-over-year.

Extra, Extra – Read All About It

The most widely circulated physical newspaper is the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) by a long shot—sending out almost 700,000 copies a day. But it is important to note that this number is an 11% decrease since 2021.

Here’s a closer look at the data.

RankNewspaperAverage Daily Print CirculationYear-Over-Year Change
#1Wall Street Journal697,493−11%
#2New York Times329,781−9%
#3USA Today159,233−13%
#4Washington Post159,040−12%
#5New York Post146,649−2%
#6Los Angeles Times142,382−14%
#7Chicago Tribune106,156−16%
#8Star Tribune103,808−9%
#9Tampa Bay Times102,266−26%
#10Newsday97,182−12%
#11Seattle Times86,406−10%
#12Honolulu Star-Advertiser79,096−5%
#13Arizona Republic70,216−10%
#14Boston Globe68,806−11%
#15Dallas Morning News65,369−10%
#16Houston Chronicle65,084−17%
#17Philadelphia Inquirer61,180−20%
#18San Francisco Chronicle60,098−12%
#19Denver (Read more...)

Why Kylie is mad at Instagram? 

by Om Malik
This post is by Om Malik from On my Om

Phone with social media icons next to a laptop.
Photo by Zhivko Minkov on Unsplash

The Internet has been abuzz following a post by Kylie Jenner, an influencer famous for being the sake of being a famous person. On Instagram, where 360 million Instagram accounts follow her, she said Instagram must stop trying to copy TikTok and remain Instagram so she can see cute photos of her friends. First, to be precise – the original post was created by Tati Bruening, who has 315,000 followers. 

Kylie being Jenner that she is, added “Pleaseeee” and took the attention away from the original post. Soon, family doyen Kim Kardashian and others from the clan of famous Internet people joined in. It got the headline machines humming. And the melee has become a significant news story – I mean, it’s not like we are dealing with war, climate crisis, or inflation. 

***

What has Instagram done that the Kardashians & the Jenners are so upset? Earlier in July 2022, the company decided any video under 15 minutes can and will be converted into a “Reel.” Reels, in case you were not following, are a clone of short-form TikTok videos. Recently, TikTok made it so that the videos on the service could be up to 15-minuteslong. So obviously, Facebook had to match them feature for feature. 

Instagram will take the video posted by any public account – someone like Kylie “The Crying” Jenner – and automatically push it into a recommendation algorithm, only to be shown to other accounts based on how people react to that (Read more...)

The Evolution of Media: Visualizing a Data-Driven Future

by Jeff Desjardins
This post is by Jeff Desjardins from Visual Capitalist

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The Evolution of Media: Visualizing a Data-Driven Future

In today’s highly-connected and instantaneous world, we have access to a massive amount of information at our fingertips.

Historically, however, this hasn’t always been the case.

Time travel back just 20 years ago to 2002, and you’d notice the vast majority of people were still waiting on the daily paper or the evening news to help fill the information void.

In fact, for most of 2002, Google was trailing in search engine market share behind Yahoo! and MSN. Meanwhile, early social media incarnations (MySpace, Friendster, etc.) were just starting to come online, and all of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and the iPhone did not yet exist.

The Waves of Media So Far

Every so often, the dominant form of communication is upended by new technological developments and changing societal preferences.

These transitions seem to be happening faster over time, aligning with the accelerated progress of technology.

  • Proto-Media (50,000+ years)
    Humans could only spread their message through human activity. Speech, oral tradition, and manually written text were most common mediums to pass on a message.
  • Analog and Early Digital Media (1430-2004)
    The invention of the printing press, and later the radio, television, and computer unlock powerful forms of one-way and cheap communication to the masses.
  • Connected Media (2004-current)
    The birth of Web 2.0 and social media enables participation and content creation for everyone. One tweet, blog post, (Read more...)

33 Problems With Media in One Chart

by Nick Routley
This post is by Nick Routley from Visual Capitalist

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problems with media v1

33 Problems With Media in One Chart

One of the hallmarks of democratic society is a healthy, free-flowing media ecosystem.

In times past, that media ecosystem would include various mass media outlets, from newspapers to cable TV networks. Today, the internet and social media platforms have greatly expanded the scope and reach of communication within society.

Of course, journalism plays a key role within that ecosystem. High quality journalism and the unprecedented transparency of social media keeps power structures in check—and sometimes, these forces can drive genuine societal change. Reporters bring us news from the front lines of conflict, and uncover hard truths through investigative journalism.

That said, these positive impacts are sometimes overshadowed by harmful practices and negative externalities occurring in the media ecosystem.

The graphic above is an attempt to catalog problems within the media ecosystem as a basis for discussion. Many of the problems are easy to understand once they’re identified. However, in some cases, there is an interplay between these issues that is worth digging into. Below are a few of those instances.

Editor’s note: For a full list of sources, please go to the end of this article. If we missed a problem, let us know!

Explicit Bias vs. Implicit Bias

Broadly speaking, bias in media breaks down into two types: (Read more...)