As the year winds down, it is always an interesting task as senior editor to go through INMA’s top stories of the previous year. We publish 800+ articles a year. What rose to the top? 

I find this year’s list unsurprising. And maybe a not-surprising list is the sort of news we need after the past couple of years. 

It is not surprising that our top story of 2022, from early March — barely a week after Russia attacked — is a story of the Ukranian media. INMA Readers First Initiative Lead Greg Piechota interviewed Oleksandr Chovhan, chairman of the Association of Independent Regional Publishers of Ukraine, and Oleg Horobets is the CEO of RIA Media, a local news publisher based in Vinnytsia in central Ukraine.

At the time, they were both in Vinnytsia, 250 kilometres from Kyiv, and Chovan’s family was in a refugee camp in another country. It’s a compelling read, even this far into the war. 

I find two things interesting — yet not surprising — about the other 10 stories:

• They are all about digital engagement/subscriptions.
• They are about or from big name companies: The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, The New York Times, TIME magazine, Gannett, and (non-news publisher) Netflix.

Of course, the industry always likes to look to the top-tier companies within. Maybe this year more than ever as the entire industry finds its new normal post-pandemic. And if media companies weren’t hyper focused on digital audiences before 2020, they either aren’t here anymore or the pandemic fast-tracked that focus.

Mid-year, INMA had a flurry of virtual regional events: Asia/Pacific, Africa, South Asia, Latin America. We then held our first in-person event since February 2020, our Media Subscriptions Week in Copenhagen. I saw the same digital subscriptions theme throughout these events, propped up by product (AI and video-heavy social media), data (personalisation, young reader research), and newsroom (journalism, dashboards, paywalls). Most of the events also touched on advertising (branded content, first-party data) teams and the media’s relationship with Big Tech.

Not surprisingly, these are the initiatives INMA is focused on. 

So I hope this list means we’re doing our job, which I see as two-fold:

• Reflecting what the global news media industry is doing with content from those in the trenches.
• Leading what the global news media industry should be doing with content from our big thought leaders.

So here’s the list, one that does not including our awards stories (Global Media award finalists and winners, 30 Under 30 winners, Elevate scholarships), which are always our most-read articles — INMA members love to celebrate with each other.

1. Amid war, Ukraine media verify, make sense of news, and help keep people from despair (by Greg Piechota).

2. Economist reaches new audiences with Instagram (by Liv Moloney).

3. The Economist moves decisively digital while staying true to its values (by Peter Bale).

4. WSJ tweaks, tests on-site promotional ads for reader engagement (by Mary-Katharine Phillips and Sasha Tanghe).

5. BBC News creates the world’s biggest news Instagram account (by Kady Wardell).

6. SWOT analyses details strengths, weaknesses of digital subscriptions (by Greg Piechota).

7. New York Times points to combined subscriptions-ad strategy in public statement (by Mark Challinor).

8. TIME builds a subscription machine to move into the future (by Paula Felps). 

9. Netflix’s subscriber losses are a cautionary tale for media companies everywhere (by Rebecca Alter).

10. New framework helps publishers manage portfolio of e-mail newsletters (by Greg Piechota).

11. Gannett onboarding + active personalisation increase engagement (by Jodie Hopperton).

Cheers to this past year, full of a return to normalcy on some fronts and trajectory-changing events on others. Thank you for being part of this community. I look forward to sharing stories of importance to you as 2023 unfolds.

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