Fresh from the brilliantly convened WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress in Krakow, one message was loud and clear: if media companies want to remain sustainable, build trust and stay competitive, they must radically rethink their strategic positioning.
Amid the fixation on AI, the “great platform reset”, widespread audience fragmentation and disintermediation of distribution, media executives can no longer rely on incremental change.
Here’s how to reset your strategy and leadership for the new media landscape.
Align around a long-term North Star goal
Here is an interesting test to do in your own business: Ask five of your colleagues to describe your strategy in one sentence. If the answers vary wildly, it’s probably time to realign.
Too many media businesses are still operating in a short-term mindset, reacting to every bump in the road. This is not the best course of action in a very volatile industry.
Instead, define a bold and clear strategic vision — your "North Star" — and align every major initiative in your business behind it.
This means:
- Setting 3–5 year financial goals aligned to clear editorial, product, and audience ambitions.
- Identifying the specific levers that will drive growth (e.g. reader revenue vs. ad tech innovation) and aligning your top people to the goals
- Ensuring scenario planning and KPIs are completely geared to achieving the goal and baked into your annual cycle.
Update the strategy itself, not just the tactics
We agreed in Krakow that our industry is constantly under threat, whether real or perceived, and the constant threat of extinction is part of our daily reality. The rise of the internet, the fall of print, tanking advertising and a squeeze on margins, these are the everyday realities of running a media company.
There are some paths that can help executives forge the right way forward:
- Reassess what the core business truly is — and cut "pet projects" that dilute focus. The lack of focus and inability to strategically prioritise is a real issue in stretched organisations.
- Accept that too much diversification can be as dangerous as too little: the more distracted you are by the next shiny thing, the less focus on the core business
- If capabilities are exhausted and the market opportunities are saturated, explore partnerships, M&A, or consolidation plays to access new scale or skill
Take a page from how Spotify killed off expensive podcasting bets to refocus on platform-level growth - a similar discipline applies in news.
Lead with clarity and communicate it relentlessly
A clear vision is nothing without a broad understanding. Despite being communication businesses, we are often poor at setting out business plans, and importantly, the role that each member of staff has in achieving the business goals.
The best leaders:
- Articulate a compelling direction repeatedly and simply.
- Ensure teams are staffed with people who have the skills and attitude to thrive through change.
- Look outside the industry for bold ideas — we are inclined to fixate on industry players and ideas, and not take inspiration from elsewhere.
- Learn from adjacent industries. What would your strategy look like if you were running Netflix? Amazon? A B2B SaaS firm?
Final thought
At Krakow, the call was not just to adapt, but to lead. For executives, that means stepping back, ruthlessly reassessing, and then committing with clarity and confidence. Strategy isn’t a document. It’s a daily act of leadership.
This article is the first in a series based on my presentation, 10 Things for Executives to Do When They Get Back from Krakow, delivered at the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress. To learn more about how FT Strategies helps publishers build sustainable, resilient media businesses, get in touch with our expert team.
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