If it’s less that 20%, you have some work to do.

TL;DR: Great content can be a differentiator, as can an excellent product. To thrive, you need both. The top-performing companies invest wisely in content as well as product and tech.

We surveyed participants of the INMA World Congress, and the results are particularly interesting for product and tech leaders. 

When we look at the top areas of internal investment, it’s changed between 2023 and 2024. Product is now the largest area of internal investment, which was not the case last year as you can see below. 

We also asked about the top three long term worries of the c-suite. Financial performance + innovation and tech adoption are the top two concerns (as shown below).

So here is some good news. I think. 

The News Sustainability Survey, run by Google, FT Strategies, and INMA last year, found there was a correlation between spending on product + tech and financial performance. Yes, if you invest in creating excellent distribution for your content, your financial performance is likely to increase. 

What’s the magic number? This research showed the top-performing media companies spent more on product and tech, 24% of total spend vs. 18% for others — as per the graph below.

You may also note a smaller percentage spend on editorial. This does not mean moving resources from newsroom to product will make you successful*. There are a couple of key points to note: 

1. Having excellent, unique content is essential to the business. Companies that have slashed editorial costs have not performed well. The companies that have performed exceptionally well are efficient in the newsroom, spending on unique, differentiating content that is valuable to their community. 

2. There is a sizeable difference in spend on product and technology in the companies that performed better overall. This is in line with what we see in this initiative.

Overall, we can conclude content is king, but only when coupled with decent, smart investing in product and tech to be able to deliver that content to the consumer in the best way possible. And this is on the c-suites mind right now. This is the time to take action. Invest wisely to maximise product led growth.  

*Also, as noted in the sustainability report, this does not reflect local and hyper local news media organisations.

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .