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JOURNALISM, MEDIA
AND TECHNOLOGY
PREDICTIONS 2016
NIC NEWMAN
CONTENTS
About the Author
1
Acknowledgements
1
Executive Summary
2
1. Looking Back at 2015: Distributed Content, Autoplay
Videos and Animated Gifs
4
2. Trends and Predictions for 2016
9
2.1 Mobile: Glanceable Content, Bendy Phones and
Personal Assistants
9
2.2 Video: Vertical, Immersive, Mobile and Social
15
2.3 The Disruption of Television
20
2.4 Podcasting and the Audio Boom
24
2.5 What Next for Social Media and Messaging Apps
24
2.6 Online Advertising: The Year of the Ad-Apocalypse?
29
2.7 Publishing and Journalism Predictions
31
2.8 Ten Start-Ups to Watch
36
2.9 Five Technologies that May Shake our World
40
Postscript, Reading List
44
Survey Methodology
45
1
JOURNALISM, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY PREDICTIONS 2016
This report is the first in a series published as part of the Reuters Institute Digital News Project.
About the Author
Nic Newman is a Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and has
been lead author of the annual Digital News Report since 2012. He is also a consultant on digital
media, working actively with news companies on product, audience, and business strategies for digital
transition. He has produced a predictions paper for the last ten years, though this is the first such paper
to be published by the Institute.
Nic was a founding member of the BBC News Website, leading international coverage as World Editor
(1997–2001). As Head of Product Development he led digital teams, developing websites, mobile, and
interactive TV applications for all BBC Journalism sites.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful for the input of more than 130 digital leaders from over 25 countries that
responded to a survey around the key challenges and opportunities in the year ahead. Respondents
came from some of the world’s leadi