美国国家公共电台 NPR At 'Washington Post,' Tech Is Increasingly Boosting Financial Performance

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The mainstay of The Washington Post has been journalism¹, breaking news and award-winning stories. But since Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought it three years ago the paper's approach to business and technology has also attracted attention. The Post, which is now private, says revenue and profits are up as subscribers grow and digital ad revenue increases. The e-commerce magnate has transformed the paper's operations from how it writes headlines and chooses photos to how it generates ad dollars. NPR's Yuki Noguchi takes a look.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: When I started my career at The Washington Post in the late 1990s, the newsroom wore a grimy, outdated³ look as if paying homage⁴ to its legendary⁵ past. The Post of today occupies an updated building on D.C.'s renowned⁶ K Street in modern, glass-walled offices with a Silicon⁷ Valley aesthetic⁸. This is The Post after e-commerce visionary Jeff Bezos bought it three years ago. Bezos arrived with deep pockets and a message, says Shailesh Prakash.

SHAILESH PRAKASH: He talks to us a lot about not being afraid to experiment, to think long-term. Stop whining⁹ that the web took publishing away from us, took our business model. It also brought new models.

NOGUCHI: Prakash is The Post's chief information officer. Prior to Bezos, he says The Post's technology operation consisted mostly of a help desk - fixing computers and software bugs¹⁰. After Bezos, The Post made a critical decision to build its own software.

PRAKASH: Pretty much every tool that the newsroom uses or the sales team uses has been built in-house.

NOGUCHI: Creating its own technology gave The Post more control over things like load speeds and reliability¹¹ as well as visibility into its users - which stories they read, which headlines worked and whether readers had preferences for videos or photo presentations. That information could be fed back to the newsroom in real time, enabling them to, for example, beta-test headlines and photos.

The Post's print circulation continues to decline, though at a slower pace. Online readership, meanwhile, is up 22 percent over the last year. Readers are spending more time on the site. And most critically for marketers, there was a fivefold increase in users engaging with the ads. The Post has said its digital ad revenue now exceeds a hundred million dollars annually¹², growing by double-digits the past three years. Its software is so successful, in fact, it has sold it to 22 other publishers, including the LA Times, Toronto Globe and Mail and Chicago Tribune. Selling its technology is, Prakash says, a new business line.

PRAKASH: It's in its infancy¹³. We have great aspirations¹⁴ for it. And at the end of the day, what is the point of it? The point of it is, it's a revenue stream to power journalism.

NOGUCHI: It used to be that we feared in the newsroom that technology was going to destroy journalism. Do you think that it's going to save it?

PRAKASH: (Laughter) I think so. I think so.

NOGUCHI: Jarrod Dicker is The Post's director of ad product and engineering. He helped develop software that filters through news stories and automatically places the right ad to match the users demographics and preferences. The Post allows its advertisers to use that same software to create more relevant, content-rich ads, no pop-up or flashing banner ads.

JARROD DICKER: We talk about in this industry that ads need to now become user-first. Because of hostility¹⁵ with ad blocking and fraud and viewability, we've really built this scenario¹⁶ that we need to help build better advertisements, or else consumers will never engage with advertising¹⁷ online.

NOGUCHI: Dicker says the technology underpins¹⁸ The Post's turnaround.

DICKER: I wouldn't want to insult anyone in the newsroom, and our journalism is absolutely amazing. But we are 100 percent now, when it comes to competitiveness in the market, a technology company.

NOGUCHI: The result is not only more targeted ads but fewer of them. Corey Elliott is a vice¹⁹ president for Borrell Associates, an ad consultant²⁰.

COREY ELLIOTT: If you go to their app and - which is a beautiful app - and you pull up their app, it's hard to find any advertising on that thing.

NOGUCHI: Elliott says advertisers care less these days about circulation or traffic volume.

ELLIOTT: That isn't important anymore. What's important is that I get in front of the exact right people.

NOGUCHI: And that is precisely²¹ what Janel Shervington says. The media director for ad agency Mediacom says her view of The Post has gone from stagnant²² to cutting-edge.

JANEL SHERVINGTON: We can be comfortable knowing that we're going to be speaking to the right person and our message is going to be getting in front of the right audience.

NOGUCHI: She says she's recently doubled the amount of money she spends advertising with The Post. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

4 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

5 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

6 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

9 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

10 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

12 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

13 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

14 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

15 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

16 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

17 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

18 underpins   

n.基础材料( underpin的名词复数 )；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的第三人称单数 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• A powerful sense of mission underpins everything he does. 一种强烈的使命感支撑他所做的一切。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His presence at the crime underpins the case against him. 案子发生时他在场对他更不利。 来自辞典例句

19 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

20 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

21 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

22 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。