Inquiry into the Covid 19 response, Fatal Waikato crash and 45yrs since Air NZ Erebus crash.
The Spinoff website has today issued an SOS plea to its readers, revealing new details of its predicament and saying “We cannot pretend everything is fine”.
The website, which features in-depth feature writing, investigative reporting and social analysis, says two of its three funding buckets - advertising and public funding partnerships - have been “leaking hard”.
So it needed to turn to its third bucket - its readers.
“The steep decline in advertising for local media has been well documented. We’re no different – we’ve just seen the worst monthly decline since the business was founded,” says the letter, signed by chief executive Amber Easby, founder Duncan Greive, and editor Madeleine Chapman
The 10-year-old website has 31 staff and its business model had appeared until now to be withstanding the ill winds sweeping through the media industry.
A new wave of cost-cutting has been under way at TVNZ, Stuff, NZME and MediaWorks following other industry cuts earlier this year including the biggest of all - the axing by Warner Bros Discovery of its Newshub newsroom and brand.
The Spinoff trio’s open letter has revealed new details of the site’s predicament and its response.
As well as cutting roles, the trio said the website had frozen “almost all external editorial commissioning, including essays and all feature writing” and it had placed “on hiatus” two of its popular newsletters, Future Proof and The Boil Up.
The site’s The Friday Poem would also be paused in 2025 following unsuccessful attempts to find funding.
The Spinoff’s troubles come at the same time as it marks record audiences.
Nielsen numbers for October show the site enjoyed a unique audience of 412,000.
But Greive, Easby and Chapman revealed that only 2.2% of that number - 9080 people - paid a regular donation.
The stark numbers: 412,000 people read The Spinoff each month. Just over 9000 people pay regular donations for the site. Graphic / The Spinoff
“It’s the definition of a paradox – never more loved by its audience, never with less support from advertisers or public funds,” they wrote.
“So to survive, we need to close the gap between the number of people who enjoy what The Spinoff does and the number of people who pay for it. Right now, the gap is too large.”
Greive this week spoke on his podcast The Fold about his hurt at missing out on NZ on Air funding for proposed Spinoff projects, for a second consecutive funding round.
This included an application for funding for a second series of Juggernaut, a political podcast by editor-at-large Toby Manhire. His first series was a critically acclaimed deep-dive into the fourth Labour Government that came to power after the 1984 snap election.
“While the state is under no obligation to fund our work, it’s hard to watch as other platforms continue to be heavily backed while your own funding stops dead,” Greive, Easby and Chapman wrote in their open letter today.
Funding from Creative New Zealand had also been halved this year.
It’s to their readers and members that the letter today is targeted.
“Too often this year, we’ve had terrible events happen in our media that no one saw coming – and without the opportunity for the audience to do something about it. We wanted to explain where we’re at and why, but also to give you a concrete action you can take to help change reality.”
The Spinoff wants to double the number of members who regularly donate (either monthly or annual payments).
“It’s the only way we can fill the hole created by the depressed advertising market and a rapid decline in public funding for our journalism,” says the letter.
“We know this won’t happen by tomorrow, but it’s what must be done. This is us saying that it’s time for The Spinoff’s audience to be the most reliable indicator of our value – and source of financial support.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
