Daily Mail publisher DMG Media has made a “significant investment” in Prorata.ai, a generative artificial intelligence platform that plans to share revenue with publishers each time their content is used to answer a user query.

The deal gives Prorata access to DMG Media’s content, which includes the archives of the Mail, Mail Online, Metro, the i and New Scientist.

Guardian Media Group and Sky News all also announced on Wednesday that they have made their content available to the start-up, and they were joined on Thursday by magazine Prospect.

The Financial Times reports that the DMG Media investment values Prorata at about $130m (£100m). Press Gazette understands Sky News is also considering investing in the start-up.

DMG Media on Prorata: ‘It could be the cornerstone of a sustainable economic model for news’

Prorata has not yet launched any public-facing products, but has already signedsimilar content-sharing deals with the Financial Times, Fortune, Axel Springer and The Atlantic.

The company has previously told Press Gazette that it has created a mechanism that lets AI platforms determine “the value of contributing content” in a generative AI response and as a result “calculate proportional compensation” for the originators of that content. It has said it will make the technology available to license to other AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Prorata says it will share half the revenue from its forthcoming subscriptions to its licensing partners.

The business hopes to provide a solution to publishers who don’t want to be left behind should consumers move toward generative AI-powered search, but who have been burned by other AI companies who have ingested their content to create their large language models without providing any compensation.

[Read more: News Corp seeks massive damages from AI firm Perplexity for stealing content]

DMG Media vice chairman Rich Caccappolo said its deal with Prorata made the company “the first UK news publisher to invest in an equity stake in this industry-leading platform”.

“The rise of large language models and real-time content scraping represents a material threat to the news industry. There is a critical need to attribute content used by LLMs to generate answers and compensate all content creators for their work.

“ProRata’s platform is a vital first step toward advancing accurate and fair attribution and promoting transparency. It could be the cornerstone of a sustainable economic model for news publishers, giving them the incentive to continue investing in high-quality, informative journalism.”

David Rhodes, the executive chairman of Sky News, said: “Global audiences trust Sky News to give them the full story, first. ProRata’s solution helps advance that high-quality, impartial journalism across AI platforms and publishers.

“With all our partners today we’re securing our company’s massive investment in fair and accurate news reporting – now, and well into the future.”

Guardian Media Group chief executive Anna Bateson said: “The trusted, quality journalism for which The Guardian is world-renowned must be fairly credited and valued when used by AI platforms. Prorata respects and promotes these fundamental principles, and we are pleased to be partnering with them.”

And Prospect chief executive Mark Beard said: “In this age of disinformation, we respect and warmly approve of Prorata.ai’s approach. We share Prorata.ai’s belief that fact-checked, authoritative journalism is critical and will not only survive but thrive, if the publishers who produce it are credited and fairly rewarded alongside the technology companies that surface it.”  

Prorata’s chief executive Bill Gross told Press Gazette in August: “Current AI answer engines rely on shoplifted, plagiarised content. This creates an environment where creators get nothing, and disinformation thrives…

“Our technology allows creators to get credited and compensated while consumers get attributed, accurate answers. This solution will lead to a broader movement across the entire AI industry.”

The post DMG Media invests in publisher-friendly generative AI start-up Prorata appeared first on Press Gazette.

Does slow journalism have a future?

Sir Clive Cowdery’s Resolution Group is betting that it does and has invested in a new app, website and audio schedule for Prospect magazine.

The title has a relatively new leadership team in the shape of chief executive Mark Beard, who joined from The Economist in January 2023, and former Guardian editor in chief Alan Rusbridger, who has been editor since September 2021.

Since launching in 1995 Prospect’s brand of thoughtful, less partisan writing on politics and culture has failed to take off in the way that, say, far more established news monthly The Atlantic has in the US (which now has more than one million subscribers across print and digital).

Prospect’s monthly print circulation has dwindled in recent years and now stands at 17,630 (12,106 subscriptions and 3,310 newsstand). Digital subscriptions currently stand at 13,444 (down from 15,120 in 2021).

But CEO Beard told Press Gazette the title is now eyeing growth, having gone through a period he described as “fixing the plumbing”.

This has included a new app developed by Pugpig, which went live last month, and a new website launched last year on Glide Publishing Platform. Another leading tech provider, Piano, is running the paywall side of things.

Like The Economist, Prospect offers readers a digital subscription (£49 per year) or a print and digital bundle (£79). There is no print-only subscription option. Users of the website are able to read three articles per month before being told to subscribe.

‘Much bigger market’ available for Prospect journalism

The title is not profitable but has a philanthropic owner in the shape of Cowdery who also owns think tank the Resolution Foundation, which is dedicated to improving living standards for those on low incomes. Prospect shares a large Georgian house with the foundation just off Parliament Square where The Spectator and Unherd are near neighbours.

Beard said the plan is for Prospect to be funded by two-thirds reader revenue (subscriptions and newsstand) with the remaining third coming from advertising/sponsorship and events – the same split as The Atlantic.

He said: “When I arrived we had a print magazine we could be proud of. We’ve spent the last 12 months building and adding digital platforms.”

Read more: What’s next for The Atlantic after reaching profitability and 1m subscribers

In addition to the magazine, website, app and two weekly podcasts Prospect runs three weekly newsletters (politics, culture and a weekly round-up of Prospect coverage) and has been expanding its roster of ticketed and sponsored events. A recent debate between journalist David Aaronovitch and politics professor Matthew Goodwin at Conway Hall in London sold out in 72 hours at £30 per head.

Prospect attracts around 250,000 website users per month and 50,000 podcast downloads. Within that, Beard said he is particularly pleased with the 85% podcast listen-through rate. Registered users are said to be rising rapidly as is engagement with the app.

Despite the headwinds many media businesses are seeing, Beard said he has reasons to be optimistic about Prospect’s future: “All the data and research tells us there is a much bigger market for the kind of trusted in-depth journalism which Prospect is known for.

“When you are going through a digital transformation like we are here it’s important to balance the need to do things quickly with doing things properly. I believe the commercials should be as good as the journalism. We do it with excellence or we don’t do it at all.”

Alan Rusbridger on going from 800-strong newsroom to team of ten

Prospect operates independently of the Resolution Foundation. Asked where its political affiliations lie, editor Rusbridger said: “My pitch to Clive was that there is a big gap in the centre, The New Statesman is on one side and The Spectator is on the other.”

He said that readers want a magazine that offers different viewpoints and treats all ideas with respect.

He cited Jonathan Powell’s piece on how to solve the Ukraine-Russia conflict as an example of where Prospects adds to the debate. He said: “At some point Russia and Ukraine must sit down. It is not what people are talking about at the moment but they will have to in the future.”

A recent long-read on GB News backer Sir Paul Marshall painted him as neither the devil or a saint but provided a more nuanced picture of a powerful philanthropist and businessman driven by strong religious and political convictions.

Whilst editing The Guardian, Rusbridger created a slow news department as a response to the ever-hastening pace of journalism. There, staff were encouraged to read books and have lunch with contacts, Rusbridger said. The Guardian Long Reads section continues to this day.

He’s taken that faith in deeper reporting away from the daily news agenda to Prospect: “People can get bite-sized information everywhere now, but they will read a properly meaty piece on something that matters. “

Asked how his current job compares with his role at The Guardian, which he left in 2016 after 20 years, he said: “The Guardian was publishing 24/7 around the clock with 800 editorial staff and we were doing it in the middle of a digital revolution. So the amount of journalism you could do was quite limited.

“Here I have a newsroom of ten so I’m involved in subbing, writing and reporting. It’s rather nice to go back to getting your hands dirty.

“I did a cover piece on the BBC and to be able to go back to reporting, ringing people, asking questions and constructing a narrative was something I hadn’t done for a long time.”

Asked what his editorial formula is for Prospect, Rusbridger said: “The biggest danger is being distracted by the news agenda. We are never going to compete day to day with the likes of The Guardian and The Times. We have to win by being smarter and asking ourselves ‘what are they not doing, what’s going to happen?’

“There are big gaps and that is where we win.”

The post Prospect CEO has ‘fixed the plumbing’ and is now looking for growth appeared first on Press Gazette.

Private Eye was the biggest-selling and biggest-growing print news and current affairs magazine in the UK and Ireland in 2022 according to new ABC figures.

The satirical magazine, which is available only in print, grew its circulation 5% year-on-year to an average of 238,322 (its highest total since 2017).

Last year Private Eye was the fourth-fastest growing print news magazine in the ABCs, coming in behind The Oldie, London Review of Books and The Spectator.

This year, though, it was one of only two publishers to record print growth, the other being the Alan Rusbridger-helmed Prospect magazine which was up by 2% to 18,510. Former Guardian editor Rusbridger’s first issue as editor was published in December 2021.

• Full breakdown of print and digital magazine ABCs for 2022
• Magazine ABCs 2022: Digital edition circulation up by 22%
• Magazine ABCs 2022: Slimming World only women’s interest title to see print growth

The Spectator saw a 16% increase in its digital UK/ROI circulation, and was the only title on this list to have increased it. Previously the biggest-growing print title on this list, this year it shed 9% of its UK/ROI print subscribers. The title is now the fifth-highest circulation publication on the list in the UK/ROI, with an average weekly readership of 60,298.

The highest print circulation overall remained The Economist, which boasts global circulation of 561,605. In the UK and ROI, that figure stood at 95,452, a 15% year-on-year decline.

Nonetheless, the magazine boasts by far the highest digital circulation of any publication on this list, having risen 2% to above one million for the first time. The publisher said in June last year it had hit 1.2 million subscribers.

The title with the next highest digital circulation, Time magazine, recorded a figure of 40,431.

The Week magazine scored the second highest UK/ROI print circulation, with 115,624 (a 5% year-on-year decline). Its sister title The Week Junior came fourth on the same list, declining 9% year-on-year to 80,197. The fastest decline on the list, meanwhile, was at The Week Junior Science and Nature, which dropped 16% to an average weekly circulation of 23,437.

Press Gazette’s sister title The New Statesman withdrew from ABC last year but did release unaudited figures on Tuesday saying its paid circulation has grown by more than 27% in the past year to 43,230, with a total average circulation (including free distribution) of 47,320 per issue. That circulation, which the publication said was its highest in 40 years, would put it between the New Scientist and The Oldie on the list below.

New Statesman marketing director Sam Fairburn said the title had “created consistent subscription growth” by developing its digital products alongside building up “enterprise subscriptions and the growth of our podcasts and app audiences”.

The post Magazine ABCs 2022: Private Eye leads UK news mags with best sales since 2017 appeared first on Press Gazette.

The Economist’s vice president for subscriptions marketing, Mark Beard, has been appointed chief executive of Prospect Publishing, the company behind Prospect magazine.

In his decade with The Economist Beard has worked as publisher of its 1843 magazine as well as its World Ahead annual title. He previously worked for Bauer Media as general manager (international) and international business manager at Emap.

Alan Rusbridger, Prospect’s editor and the former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, said Beard “has had a wealth of experience in all aspects of publishing and we were impressed by his exciting ambition for building on the success of Prospect—in text and beyond”.

Beard said: “I believe Prospect has great potential to play an increasingly important role in British society, and beyond. It’s a vision shared by Sir Clive Cowdery, Prospect’s ambitious owner, and Alan Rusbridger…

“I look forward to working with the teams to continue Prospect’s transformation into an increasingly multi-platform modern media company.”

The post Economist marketing exec Mark Beard joins Prospect as CEO appeared first on Press Gazette.

Private Eye secured its position as the UK’s top selling news and current affairs magazine with a 1% year on year rise to an average of 227,039 sales per issue in the latest ABC figures.

The Spectator, London Review of Books and The Oldie also saw growth in their UK and Ireland circulations, compared to last year’s figures.

The Economist was the third highest circulation print current affairs magazine in the UK and Ireland, as well as far and above the UK-based current affairs title with the highest worldwide average print circulation (at 648,543).

The circulation data also included information on the number of print editions that were given away for free and the number that were actively purchased.

While almost all current affairs magazines included reported more than 90% of their print editions being actively purchased, for The Critic just 42% of its 18,062 domestic print circulation was accounted for by paying readers.

The last year saw a slew of changes to the leadership of the London Review of Books, with commercial director Reneé Doegar promoted to publisher and Jean McNicol and Alice Spawls becoming new co-editors of the magazine, succeeding Mary-Kay Wilmer. During Doegar’s total 11 years at the magazine circulation has risen by 55%.

Commenting on the latest ABC figures, Doegar said: “It’s fantastic to see our subscriptions on the rise for another consecutive year of sustained growth, particularly during the challenges we have faced during the pandemic.”

She went on: “The LRB started with just four people and now has a staff of over 60 amazingly talented individuals working not just for the paper, but supporting it through the business, the bookshop, the cake shop, published books, bespoke product lines, and our renowned author event series.”

The New Statesman announced this week that it was withdrawing from ABC – in common with numerous other titles which choose not to be audited by the body.

It announced independently that its print circulation had reached a 40-year high of 41,000, of which 37,000 were paid copies. Its last ABC-audited total was 36,591.

New Statesman Media Group marketing director Sam Fairburn explained the move, saying: “Each day we work with our clients and their evolving needs to create solutions that cover a multitude of channels, platforms and audiences, from podcasts and newsletters to print, and the time and resource put into the ABC hasn’t served the purposes of the business as it is today.”

Image: Private Eye

The post News and current affairs mag ABCs: Growing Private Eye keeps top spot appeared first on Press Gazette.

The deputy editor of current affairs magazine Prospect and a Guardian columnist have shared this year’s Orwell Prize for Journalism.

Prospect’s Steve Bloomfield and the Guardian’s Suzanne Moore (both pictured) will split the £3,000 winnings after collecting the prize at its annual ceremony in London last night.

Bloomfield was recognised for his “forensic” work exposing “the Foreign Office’s losing battle to find post-Brexit Britain a place in the world”.

Moore was praised for “brave” op-eds on the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair in the wake of #MeToo and the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

Judges said: “The journalism that has won these two prizes represents the best of the Orwell tradition, incisive, relevant and human.

“It also represents the two sides of his journalism: There is Suzanne Moore’s stubborn and brave commentary, and Steve Bloomfield’s forensic research and reporting.”

Bloomfield used time on stage to criticise the “shocking” lack of diversity in the media, particularly regarding class representation.

In an extract of the speech, shared on Twitter, he said: “A free and fearless press is one of the most important aspects of a democracy. But it can only do that job if it reflects the country it is reporting on.

“If all our editors are from the same few schools we are going to miss stories because we don’t know the people affected by them; we are going to miss scandals because we don’t understand that they are scandals; we are going to miss great writers because that’s what representation and diversity actually means.”

Moore made a similar point on stage, saying “we have a crisis of representation”.

Sharing her words on Twitter, Moore said: “We have it at the top: in politics, which is visible, and we have it in the media. Some things have got better, sure, but much hasn’t and that thing is class.

“I doubt now if someone like me could now make it a journalist.”

Their comments followed a report released yesterday by the Sutton Trust which found that that 43 per cent of the UK’s 100 most influential editors and broadcasters went to private school, as did 44 per cent of newspaper columnists.

Also last night, Vice global drugs editor Max Daly picked up the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils for his investigation into the links between missing children and the UK drugs trade.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which sponsors the prize, said: “Max Daly’s reporting has brought us the best of journalism – getting under the skin of a difficult issue, giving a voice to people who are not often heard and challenging the assumptions of readers.

“By showing us the reality and the history of the drugs trade in our towns and cities, he has exposed the complex interactions between familiar problems, such as the house crisis, violent crime and poverty.”

Daly tweeted: “It’s a massive honour to get this award, it’s a proper one.

“Up against some fantastic journalism. Thanks to all the young people, youth workers and experts who’ve trusted me and Vice for being the best global platform to amplify unheard voices and hidden stories.”

Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr won last year’s journalism prize for her investigation into data firm Cambridge Analytica and the impact of data on the 2016 EU referendum.

The Orwell Prize was set up to reward writing that met the legendary writer’s aim to “make political writing into an art”.

Picture: Orwell Foundation

The post Guardian columnist and Prospect deputy editor share Orwell Prize for Journalism appeared first on Press Gazette.

Current affairs magazines continued to boom in the first half of 2017 – albeit helped by double-counting for certain titles.

Private Eye remains top of the table with an average of 249,927 sales a fortnight, up 8.6 per cent year on year and a whisker below its all-time record set in the second half of 2016.

The Economist is in second place with 248,106 copies a week, and ahead if you are just counting UK and Ireland. However its figures are flattered by the fact that 60,486 of its subscribers are counted twice.

This is because of a quirk in the ABC rules which means that those subscribing to a print and digital bundle count twice provided that the combined circulation costs at least 20 per more than the top print-only price.

Similarly the Spectator has 16,392 bundle subscribers who count twice, in both the print and digital columns.

Prospect’s year-on-year growth of 37.2 per cent is largely accounted for by a huge increase in existing print subscribers upgrading to a print and digital bundle. Some 12,880 prospect subscribers are counted twice, as both digital and print readers because they subscribe to a bundle.

The Week Junior has launched with an impressive 45,895 sales per week.

Current affairs magazine sales figures for the first half of 2017: (Source ABC)

The post Mag ABCs: Economist, Spectator and Prospect boosted by double-counting of bundle subscribers appeared first on Press Gazette.