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The Colab Brief - 146: The Rise of the New Media Influencer

Welcome to The Colab Brief

Author

Ash + Lizzy
November 30, 2024

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Over the last few weeks, we’ve been asked a lot about the changing media landscape and what we expect in the year ahead. We’ve already talked at length about the evolution that is required from legacy media and the rise of new media like podcasts and substacks. 

But one of the things we haven’t yet discussed is the rise of what we’re calling the “new media influencers.”

Read Time: 2 minutes

This is nothing new to broadcast programs - most have an anchor or two that they favor (think Anderson Cooper, Tucker Carlson, Lester Holt, Rachel Maddow, etc.) in one way or another. Even editorial publications have their top writers with whom everyone is familiar. 

But written digital publications never really hopped on the bandwagon en masse. 

To explain what we expect from this phenomenon, we need to take it back about ten years. 

For those of you in the PR/comms/media world, you probably remember a person named Matt Bellassai. Matt Bellassai had a video segment he published every Wednesday on BuzzFeed called Whine About It, where he “got drunk at [his] desk and complained about stuff.”

While deeply unserious in nature, Whine About It was occurring in tandem with a very pivotal moment in the media. This was the time when podcasts were just starting to take off in popularity, and the idea of consuming information (not just news) via listening on your personal devices was taking hold. 

Whine About It went on for a handful of years and amassed millions of weekly viewers. But in 2018, Matt parted ways with the publication to start a podcast, write a memoir, and, ultimately, own his own content. 

And what we didn’t know at the time was that Whine About It was a foreshadowing of what we expect to see in the coming years from journalists. 

Journos used to use social media as a platform to put PR people on blast for irrelevant and uncustomized pitches. But now, we’re beginning to see members of the media utilize these platforms in a more effective and meaningful way. A couple of examples that come to mind are Allison Carter of PR Daily and Alex Lieberman of Morning Brew, who each have tens of thousands of followers on LinkedIn. 

This elevated visibility and increased followers likely drive additional traffic to their respective publication's website - a win/win for both parties involved.

So, as a next logical step, publications will likely want to elevate these individuals further and increase reader numbers in a way that isn’t possible with traditional editorial content. 

In the coming year, I wouldn’t be surprised if these reporters started to explore additional mediums to increase their overall presence. 

I expect Kyle Wiggers (or another well-known TC reporter) to erect a recurring video series talking about the week’s most notable funding rounds. 

Or, Eleanor Hawkins to create a cadenced broadcast segment alongside her Axios Communicators newsletter (a must-subscribe). 

This, inevitably, will change the dynamic of the newsroom and the masthead. We’ll start to see these micro-celebrities emerge within organizations, making them more challenging to reach and your coverage more coveted when secured. 

This also means that your topics and how you pitch them will have to level up.

You’ll have to start framing your pitches in a way that’s desirable for not only print media but for multimedia, as well. This will require you to look at your editorial calendars, and stack rank your pitch angles based on which will be most entertaining and enticing for a video segment rather than just a traditional print article. 

We’ll also likely start to see these reporters latch onto a certain “presence,” if you will. Bellassai was unrefined and off the cuff, for example. And although he’s no longer on the editorial staff, you always knew when pitching Haje Jan Kamps at TechCrunch that you would get a hypercritical, unscripted depiction of whatever you were pitching him.

These new media influencers will do the same - they’ll adopt a personality that will drive the tone and perspective of their coverage, so PR pros will need to pitch accordingly. 

There are certainly other changes afoot, some of which we can foresee and others that will take us by surprise. But this is just one of the ways we can all plan to adjust our strategy to meet the demands of the constantly changing media landscape in the year ahead.

Until next time -

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