A technology news brand is launching in London with a 20-strong team hoping to buck the trend of industry decline over the last 12 months.
Digital Frontier has a nine-strong editorial team producing a website, twice-weekly podcast and daily newsletter. Other staff bring the title’s total headcount to 20.
The independent title plans to make revenue from subscriptions, advertising and events. Its plan is to provide deeply-reported journalism, rather than breaking news, and inform business leaders across various sector who need to understand the impact of disruptive technology.
Digital Frontier launches in a business climate which has seen numerous cutbacks and closures, with around 1,000 news media jobs lost in the UK and USA so far this year. However subscriptions and events have been relatively robust – with advertising being the main problem area for publishers, as evidenced by the recent DMGT results.
What is Digital Frontier?
Digital Frontier is privately owned with investment from Josh Hewes, the founder and chief executive of Blockspace, who has a background in digital assets and financial services.
Announcing its launch, the company said: “Digital Frontier provides a more nuanced and optimistic view of how technology is impacting the future of business, finance and culture.
“We see a need in the market for a serious-minded publication that steps beyond the daily news cycle to produce deeply reported stories on how technology is upending business models and opening new markets.
“We see huge potential in breaking down the information silos between industries that often ignore each other. The best Digital Frontier stories will connect the dots between innovations being adopted by different sectors to tackle comparable problems.
“Too much contemporary technology journalism falls into one of two traps: on the one hand a fixation on the trivial and on the other a tendency to pessimism. We want to bring rigour and a dose of optimism to the industry. We believe technology has led a huge improvement to people’s lives over the past century and has the potential to drive an even bigger change over the coming century.”
Digital Frontier said it will target an audience of “future-focused leaders, business decision-makers, entrepreneurs and investors”.
It is mainly targeting a B2B audience, but expects to also attract B2C readers.
In a statement, the title said: “Our content is crafted to keep you abreast of the latest trends while also anticipating the future’s possibilities.”
Quarterly magazine and annual event planned
Digital Frontier has also promised a quarterly magazine and a series of “live journalism” events across the UK, culminating in a flagship annual conference called Convergence being held in Edinburgh in October.
Chief executive Rich Hewes, the brother of investor Josh, is a former commercial director of B2B brand Broadcast.
Editor-in-chief Andrew Rummer previously worked as executive editor of cryptocurrency news site The Block and VP special projects of Finimize, an information platform aimed at individual investors.
Digital Frontier describes itself as a brand which “connects the dots to show how different industries are using technology to tackle parallel challenges”.
It says: “Our unique, forward-looking perspectives elevate the news narrative beyond the present, offering insights that shape tomorrow’s decisions.
“Think of Digital Frontier as an in-depth briefing from an informed colleague who is always ahead of the curve. We help future-focused leaders, entrepreneurs and investors navigate the rapidly changing digital landscape with confidence.”
The website, digitalfrontier.com, is due to launch on 28 February and is currently taking registrations.
See Press Gazette’s ranking of top technology news brands in the UK.
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