At the latest CRUNCH event, industry leaders revealed that fostering trust, community, and participation is now the key to securing audience retention, higher-value advertising, and long-term revenue growth in a competitive digital landscape.
At a time when every publisher is competing for a finite pool of attention, the Association of Online Publishers’ latest CRUNCH event focused on a simple proposition: loyalty is no longer just a nice-to-have, but the foundation of both reader revenue and higher-value advertising. Speakers from Newsquest, GB News, Gumtree, PlanetSport and The Telegraph argued that the most dependable commercial gains come from audiences who return often, share data willingly and feel some degree of identity or trust in the brand. Newsquest, in particular, has had recent success on that front, saying in August 2025 that its digital audience reached 61 million unique visitors, with 208 million article page views and 135,000 monthly paying subscribers, after crossing 100,000 digital subscribers the year before.
For local publishers such as Newsquest, loyalty is built through relevance, personality and community. Susanne Kinnaird said the company’s strength lies in more than 200 local brands that can each be used to serve distinct audiences and advertiser segments, while also encouraging repeat visits and subscription conversion. She said the publisher’s journalists help anchor those communities, especially in sport, where reporters can become trusted voices in their own right. Elysse Jones of GB News described a similar shift in mindset, saying the broadcaster had moved from a simple register-and-read model to one centred on belonging, with a free community tier designed to lower the barrier to entry and encourage participation through polls, comments and live interaction.
Commercially, those participation signals matter because they convert into first-party and declared data, giving publishers a clearer view of what audiences care about and when they are most receptive. Jones said gamified streaks and loyalty points are now part of GB News’ effort to deepen engagement before monetising it. Nav Dhillon of Gumtree said the marketplace’s challenge is different: rather than content consumption, it maps loyalty to real-life moments such as buying a car, moving home or furnishing a flat, then uses that context to support more seamless advertising. PlanetSport’s George Odysseos, meanwhile, argued that the best defence against commoditised content is authenticity, saying sports audiences respond to writers with clear opinions and emotional investment, not generic output, and that publishers should protect the balance between commercial pressure and editorial value.
The Telegraph’s experience offered perhaps the clearest example of how a loyalty-led model can reshape both subscriptions and advertising. After shifting to a subscriber-first approach in 2019, the publisher rebuilt its ad business around fewer, more deliberate placements that would not damage the reader experience. Gareth Cross said commercial proposals now have to be justified against the risk to subscriptions, while Rachel Cottis outlined how authenticated users and zero-party data have allowed the paper to build audience segments from declared preferences and on-site interactions. Together, the presentations suggested that the strongest publisher businesses are no longer those chasing the largest audiences at any cost, but those turning trust, habit and participation into durable revenue.
Source Reference Map
Inspired by headline at: [1]
Sources by paragraph:
- Paragraph 1: [2], [3], [4]
- Paragraph 2: [1], [2], [3]
- Paragraph 3: [1], [4], [5], [7]
- Paragraph 4: [1], [3], [6], [7]
Source: Noah Wire Services
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
8
Notes:
The article references the Association of Online Publishers’ CRUNCH event held on 19 March 2026 ([ukaop.org](https://www.ukaop.org/crunch/previous/crunch-9-1?utm_source=openai)). The latest data from Newsquest, including 61 million unique visitors and 135,000 monthly paying subscribers, is from August 2025 ([pressrecognitionpanel.org.uk](https://www.pressrecognitionpanel.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/85th-Press-Recognition-Panel-Board-Meeting-20-October-2025-Public-PDFs.pdf?utm_source=openai)). The content appears current and not recycled.
Quotes check
Score:
7
Notes:
Direct quotes from Susanne Kinnaird of Newsquest and Elysse Jones of GB News are included. However, without direct access to the original speeches or interviews, the accuracy of these quotes cannot be independently verified. The absence of direct sources raises concerns about their authenticity.
Source reliability
Score:
6
Notes:
The article is published on inPublishing, a UK-based publication focusing on the media industry. While it is a niche publication, it is reputable within its field. However, the lack of direct access to primary sources for the quotes diminishes the overall reliability.
Plausibility check
Score:
8
Notes:
The claims about Newsquest’s digital audience growth and GB News’s shift towards community engagement align with known industry trends. However, the absence of direct sources for the quotes introduces some uncertainty.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): MEDIUM
Summary:
The article provides a timely and relevant summary of the AOP CRUNCH event, with data from August 2025. However, the inability to independently verify the direct quotes from Newsquest and GB News raises concerns about their authenticity. The reliance on inPublishing’s own reporting also affects the independence of the verification. While the content is plausible and the source is reputable, the verification process has some limitations, leading to a medium confidence level in the overall assessment.
