This week, the Google News Initiative (GNI), in partnership with the International News Media Association (INMA), kicked off a new workshop series on audience development that will be delivered to publishers worldwide in six different languages. The ongoing series is part of the GNI Digital Growth Programme, a free programme to help small- and mid-sized news publishers around the world achieve digital success (register here). 

The audience development workshops aim to provide news organisations with practical tips and strategies to develop and grow their loyal readers over time. Participating news publishers can anticipate learning about setting strategies to better understand their readers, leveraging data analytics using tools like News Consumer Insights, establishing clear goals, and building an organisational culture centered around audience.

INMA will offer expertise in workshops across North America, Asia/Pacific, and Latin America, joined by presenters from local markets including news publishers, Google News Initiative team members, and other associations such as AMSI in Indonesia. 

The workshops will be followed by GNI Audience Labs, a cohort-based programme designed to provide a group of publishers with personalised support and one-on-one coaching from our industry partners. The Labs will have three cohorts across North America, Asia/Pacific, and Latin America, and will be offered to a subset of the workshop participants through an application process.

“Since launching the GNI Digital Growth Programme, we’ve worked with nearly 1,000 news organisations worldwide to help them build sustainable businesses,” said Ben Monnie, director of global news partnerships solutions at Google. “We’re looking forward to expanding the programme into audience development and helping publishers grow reach, deepen engagement, and build a culture with the reader at the center.” 

“INMA is excited to partner with the Google News Initiative to help expand the reach and continue the impact of the Digital Growth Programme,” said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director and CEO of INMA.

About Google News Initiative (GNI)

The Google News Initiative is Google’s effort to work with the news industry to help journalism thrives in the digital age. The initiative focuses on three pillars: working with the news industry to evolve their business models and drive sustaincable growth, elevating quality journalism, and empowering news organisations with new technology.

About International News Media Association (INMA)

The International News Media Association (INMA) is a global community of market-leading news media companies reinventing how they engage audiences and grow revenue in a multi-platform environment. The INMA community consists of more than 16,000 members at 850 media companies in 70+ countries. INMA is the news media industry’s foremost ideas-sharing network with members connected via conferences, reports, Webinars, virtual meetings, an unparalleled archive of best practices, and initiatives dedicated to digital subscriptions, product, and data.

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