Key Lessons from The Lisbon Web Summit 2022

The 2022 Web Summit took place in Lisbon from November 1st-4th at the Altice Arena. The turnover was colossal as the tech event was sold-out. It had 71,033 participants from over 150 countries, all meeting in Portugal’s capital. The event showcased 2,296 startup businesses, while covering about a thousand tennis courts.

The publisher tracks featured panel interviews and presentations with many publishers, such as The Atlantic, TechCrunch, Vice, Teen Vogue, Fast Company, Washington Post, Axios, and more. Let’s explore the five key takeaways from the Lisbon Web Summit 2022. 

Prioritize your audience, and the revenue follows

A steady theme was how publishers should learn to desist from looking at their offerings to develop and then think they will scale after launch. Instead, they were encouraged to concentrate on their audience as their top priority. And through research and information, they can better attend to their audience’s needs.

Publisher at Axios, Nicholas Johnston, said, “we are yet to figure out a supernatural secret, we only have a different blend of income, and we are meticulous in establishing around that. Most publishers make the mistake of building first, particularly startups, and believe the cash will follow shortly.

Global Chief Officer of the Washington Post, Joy Robins, who chose the theme, said, “As a news publisher, you need to resolve that you are a business. Immediately you establish that, it’s better to align your business with accountability and shared goals. The organization must be ingrained in your audience. And, while subscriptions, advertising, and events are a by-product of that, they need to begin with the audience.”

Johnston contributed, “A vital aspect is to acknowledge the relationship with your readers. If you are dependent on Google, Facebook, or any other social media platforms for serving your audience, know that you are already at their disposal. And, they aren’t in the news business, but simply operating their business.”

As Nicholas Johnston, Axios Publisher said, ”I cherished being Axios Chief Editor. That’s because if I devise a plan and the sales reps can sell it, I get to onboard several journalists as I desire. We’ve now reached 200 journalists. ” 

Micropayments are back as a prevailing fashion

Micropayments may soon be in the spotlight after multiple false downs. Some newsgroups, who requested to stay anonymous and were looking closely at the tech or launching micropayments next year, spoke.

From the tech merchant’s viewpoint, the arguments are vivid: micropayments add another revenue stream while also opening up a publisher’s content to a broader audience, many of whom will eventually become subscribers.

Publishers need more convincing. One newsgroup said they were sure that micropayments would cannibalize current subscriber revenue and become a zero-sum game. Thus, they will need to create hundreds of micropayments for each subscriber they lose. But the same newsgroup also said they were looking closely at the tech, with reams of data scientists and statisticians pouring over the possible dispositions.

Besides, tech vendors and publishers are advancing away from easy per-article offers. Instead, they

are looking at themed and cheaper bundles. Now that recent data reports we may have reached peak subscription, the year that micropayments emerge as an earnest force could be 2023.