New Statesman drops network advertising from website

The New Statesman, part of NS Media Group announced, that it has exceeded 30,000 subscriptions, both print and online, for the first time in 40 years.

Managing editor Will Dunn said:

“Early on in the crisis, we recognized that it would be necessary to concentrate on making our digital products as appealing as possible to the millions of new readers visiting our website each month. We had already removed network advertising for our subscribers in 2019, and reduced it for registered readers, but we recently decided to remove these ads for all readers.

“This decision reflects the major investment that our parent company, New Statesman Media Group, is making in an unprecedented expansion in quality journalism. The group has created a new data journalism team, who contributed to this week’s special issue, and the New Statesman is rapidly expanding its international coverage under the leadership of Jeremy Cliffe, who joined last year from The Economist.”

New Statesman Media Group managing director Danny Williams added that the company was “moving away from relying on display ad inventory, because it doesn’t work for anyone – our readers, our clients, nor, crucially, for us as a business”.

Williams further added that he believes that “the future of the company lies in building a highly-engaged readership.” He says:

“We believe the only way to do this is by fostering high-quality journalism and by significant product development. Right now we are focused on bringing top talent to the business and we’ll have a lot more to say about this in a few months’ time.”

The move to drop programmatic display advertising at the company comes amid a shift away from advertising in the global news industry.