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How are sustainability, new work and demographic change affecting 160 German publishers? What is the significance of personalised offers? Our study provides the answer.

The tense world and economic situation is not leaving the publishing industry unscathed. Corona, geopolitical tensions, the war in Ukraine, energy shortages, climate change and inflation are causing uncertainty. Added to this are the challenges in the digital business. These include monetising digital content and strengthening customer loyalty in a tough competitive environment.

For our annual study "Publishing Trends", we asked 160 publishers from Germany what challenges they face and how they set their priorities in these eventful times.

Cybersecurity is perceived as an important trend in the publishing industry

In the first part of the study, we focus on the importance of selected megatrends such as sustainability, demographic change and new work as well as the strategic priorities of the publishers. Almost all of the megatrends surveyed have gained in importance compared to the 2021 survey.

For example, 72 per cent of the publishers surveyed now consider security risks and cybersecurity to be an important trend in the publishing industry.

Strategic focus: Optimising processes and workflows

At 81 per cent, most publishers continue to have a strategic focus on optimising processes and workflows. Innovative capacity and IT infrastructure also play a strategic role for most publishers.

Personalisierung gewinnt an Bedeutung

In the second part of the publication, we focus on the personalisation of publishing offers. We ask: Where does the German publishing industry stand in this future topic and what are the opportunities? 

According to the majority of publishers, personalised offers will become increasingly important in the next few years in order to offer an individual customer approach and customised content. 59 per cent of the publishers surveyed said that personalisation is already of high strategic importance to them today. The reason for this is the opportunities that personalised offers open up for publishers - especially for strengthening customer loyalty and increasing revenues in the digital business.

Daniel Rausch von Traubenberg, Head of Product Development, told us in an interview how the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung deals with the topic of personalisation. 

The study is a cooperation between KPMG and the MVFP Medienverband der freien Presse e.V..

You can find all the results of the study here (PDF in German).