We’re going to start this week’s Five on Friday byaddressing the elephant in the room. This week was crazy – something none of uscould have predicted. We had a time change, full moon, Friday, the 13^th,and, of course, the massive spread of the coronavirus around the world. Inaddition, we had our own minor catastrophe. Our hosting provider suffered acrash which forced us to transition to a new website and host before we wereready. We have been scrambling the last few days to get the site back up andrunning. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding as we try to returnto normal.

In this week’s Five on Friday, YouTube will allow a limitednumber of channels to monetize coronavirus content, Seattle Magazine returns tolocal ownership with a new benefactor, and news publishers bring down theirpaywalls to share coverage about Covid-19. Also this week, we share three waysnewspapers can grow their digital revenue from readers and five tips forgrowing email subscribership using lead magnets.

Wherever you are, we hope you and your families are safe,and that we get through this crisis as a united global community. Be well.

YouTube Will Allow Some Channels to Monetize CoronavirusContent

YouTube will begin allowing a limited number of channels tomonetize content related to the coronavirus through advertising, reportsTubefilter. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki shared this information withcreators in a letter. Previously, YouTube had demonetized certain accounts whoshared content about Covid-19, but has since changed its policy, followingcreator complaints.

In Wojcicki’s letter to creators, “It’s becoming clear thisissue is now an ongoing and important part of everyday conversation, and wewant to make sure news organizations and creators can continue producingquality videos in a sustainable way.”

There will be oversight, however. YouTube will enforce itspolicies and develop new ones to ensure that the monetization and content areappropriate. Additional details will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Formore information, creators can visitYouTube’s support pages specifically addressing coronavirus.

Seattle Tech Vet Returns Seattle Magazine to LocalOwnership

In a time where local media organizations are being boughtby hedge funds and media behemoths, it is refreshing to see that one popularnews outlet is returning to local ownership. The 54-year-old Seattle Magazine, previously owned byTiger Oak Media of Minneapolis, has been purchased by Seattle-based techveteran Jonathan Sposato, reportsGeekWire.com. Tiger Oak Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October2019.

Sposato is the chairman of GeekWire.com,a Seattle-based online tech news outlet, and PicMonkey,a subscription-based photo editing app. He is also a Google alum, formerdirector at Microsoft, and former CEO of Picnik and Bitnik.

“I was raised here and watched Seattle transform from a cityknown for Sasquatch, Bruce Lee, coffee and airplanes, into a world-classmetropolis on par with other iconic destinations across the globe,” Sposatosaid.

“Not only are we home to the most valuable technologycompanies in the world, this city has also given birth to the most famousmusicians, performing artists, business leaders, athletes and, of course,Oprah’s favorite mac ‘n cheese. Seattle is not dying. It’s thriving.”

Sposato made the announcement on his Facebook page on March 2. Here is an excerpt:

“Today I am excited and honored to announce my acquisitionof Seattle Magazine, which brings editorial control and ownership of thepublication back to Seattle after nearly 30 years in Minneapolis. With helpfrom the great team there, some new hires, hard work and some luck, we aspireto help redefine the conversation about Seattle and grow our city’s definitivemonthly magazine to focus storytelling on what is most unique, provocative andworthy of celebration about our city.”

The first issue under new ownership is expected to come outlater this spring.

3 Ways for Newspapers to Grow Digital Revenue fromReaders

In his work as a journalist fellow at the ReutersInstitution for the Study of Journalism, Eduardo Suarez took a deep dive intowhat news outlets can do to grow digital revenue from readers. He found thatoutlets in the United Kingdom, Spain and other European countries had successsecrets that other media organizations can learn from. Here are three we foundparticularly noteworthy.

1. Newspapers must share their unique sellingproposition. As Suarez points out, there will always be some outlets thatoffer their news for free. In some cases, it will be entirely free. In others,some content will be available in front of a paywall. Either way, newspapers mustsend a compelling message about the quality of their work to prospective readers.The Guardian has done aparticularly good job of this. If you visit any of their website. There is aribbon at the top of every page asking for support and, at the bottom of everyarticle, The Guardian asks again with an explanation about why their journalismis so important.
2. Cut out the stories that aren’t working.Suarez said newspapers evaluated the kinds of stories their readers were mostinterested in. They eliminated those categories that were not popular, whichhad a two-fold effect. First, the news outlets could devote resources to wherethey could truly make a difference and, second, traffic increased because readerswere getting more of what they wanted and less of what they didn’t.
3. Develop products that readers can complete. Whenprint newspapers were in vogue, there was a sense of accomplishment when a readercompleted reading a section, whether it was daily news briefings, the crimeblotter or the sports section, said Suarez. Now readers are inundated withendless stories and, at some point, they just stop reading. The Economist createdEspresso, a daily briefing that includes their top five news stories of theday. It has grown to include editions in Asia, Europe and the Americas. It ispart of the magazine’s primary app, and it is also available as a standaloneapp.

To read more of Suarez’s fascinating findings, visithis paper for Reuters online or a summaryof his findings for the Nieman Foundation.

News Publishers Bring Down Paywalls During CoronavirusOutbreak

During the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak, newspublishers in the U.S. are stepping up to keep readers informed. ColumbiaJournalism Review reports that news outlets including The New York Times, theWall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, the Seattle Times, the NapaValley Register and the McClatchy papers are bringing down their paywalls,at least for coronavirus-related stories, to nonsubscribers. Readers may stillhave to create accounts to access the content, but they won’t have to pay toread Covid-19 stories and access important information.

This is one way that media outlets can help ensure that Americanscan stay informed about the latest news and provide access to additionalresources. It is also a way for publishers to engage readers and perhaps retainthem as subscribers later. While some may view this as self-serving, publishersare hurting as much as, if not more than, other businesses. They have more newsto cover, often with less staff, and they are losing advertising revenue duringwhat has now become a national emergency. In some cases, they are even puttingtheir own staff at risk to cover important stories.

This is a tough time for all of us, and the only way we aregoing to get through it, is together. We applaud publishers who are taking thisstep to make sure people have timely, accurate information.

5 Ways to Grow Your Email List Using Lead Magnets

We probably all have more email than we’d like, but itremains a great way to market to prospects and one of the first steps in theacquisition process, saysChristopher Jan Benitez for Business2Community. But how do you get thoseleads? Benitez suggests using lead magnets where you are essentially givingsomething to get something. In other words, dangle a carrot in front of yourprospects. If they give you their email address for marketing purposes, theyget the carrot. Here are five tips to attract email leads using lead magnets.

• Free trials. Most subscription servicesoffer a free trial of some kind to give users a sampling of what they canexpect, whether it is free access to news content for 14 days, a free trial ofstreaming video content, or an SaaS upgrade. This is a great way for prospectsto try before they buy.
• Free reports, white papers or ebooks.According to Benitez, reports have a conversion rate of 46%. Put together apackage of useful tips, industry data or other information that they can use toimprove their own businesses. This shows the prospect that this relationship isgive-and-take, not just take, take, take.
• Quizzes that go viral. Have you seenthose quizzes your friends take on Facebook – Which rock star are you? How welldo you know your spouse? If you were a color, what color would you be? Triviaquizzes are also popular. By creating a quiz, you are making a positive impressionabout your brand, learning more about your prospect and gathering contactinformation you can use later.
• Checklists. Checklists can be a fun, easyway to create a branded document that prospects will use again and again. Optinmostergives two examples of handy checklists: a one-page SEO checklist tooptimize blog posts and websites a checklist for creating checklists!
• Templates. Offer prospects a virtual orprintable branded template for everything from grocery lists and calendars toemail templates and planner pages. These free tools are easy to create and,when used multiple times, they remind prospects of where they got theinformation.

For more tips to create lead magnets, check out theseresources:

5 Killer Lead Magnet Ideas to Get More Email Subscribers

69 Highly Effective Lead Magnet Ideas to Grow Your Email List

25 Lead Magnet Examples That Build Your Email List and Convert