Cross-platform promotion of content within the hybrid project «New Voice» as an example of successful media production

Kyrylova Oksana

Khotiun Liudmyla

Savchenko Nikol

Abstract

In the context of the media industry constant changes and the impact of digital technology on content consumption, cross-platform promotion of the last is becoming a key aspect of media production strategy. The purpose of this article is to study the general aspects of news production in contemporary conditions, taking into account the peculiarities of the media hybrid environment. This environment has a significant impact on all stages of news production. Therefore, there is a need to study the specificity of this process in order to identify potentially successful models of commercialization of media activities. The object of the study is modern news production process in the media hybrid environment, which was used by the Ukrainian resource 'New Voice' in 2023. The subject of the study is the mechanisms and dynamic changes in the news production process due to the specifics of the media hybrid environment. The analysis of the cross-media activities of the New Voice project was carried out in areas: analysis of the website content, the effectiveness of the promotional codes portal, the online platform Radio NV, podcasting service, NV magazine, as well as social media presence and alertness. Media activities under the project were studied taking into account the principles outlined in the editorial code. The article reveals the peculiarities and effectiveness of cross-platform content promotion in the hybrid media project «New Voice». The key methods and strategies that help the project succeed in media production are identified. According to the data collected and systematized as a result of the study, it is concluded that the media activities of the New Voice project are an example of successful news production in a media hybrid environment. The technologies and strategies used by New Voice can serve as a scenario/ selection of practical recommendations for launching a new media project or optimizing the mechanisms of an existing one.

Keywords: cross-platform promotion; media environment; hybrid media environment; content; media; magazine; website; social media; social networks

Анотація

Кросплатформне просування контенту в рамках гібридного проєкту «New Voice» як приклад успішного медіапродакшену

Оксана Кирилова, Людмила Хотюн та Ніколь Савченко

У контексті постійних змін у медіаіндустрії та впливу цифрової технології на споживання контенту, кросплатформне просування контенту стає ключовим аспектом стратегії медіапродакшену. Мета даної статті полягає в дослідженні загальних аспектів новинного виробництва в сучасних умовах, враховуючи особливості медіагібридного середовища. Це середовище значно впливає на всі етапи створення новин. Отже є потреба у вивченні специфіки цього процесу задля виокремлення потенційно успішних моделей комерціалізації медійної діяльності. Об'єктом дослідження обрано сучасне виробництво новин у медіагібридному середовищі, що застосовував український ресурс «New Voice» протягом 2023 р. Предметом вивчення стали механізми та динамічні зміни процесу виробництва новин, зумовлені специфікою медіагібридного середовища. Аналіз кросмедійної діяльності проєктуNew Voice здійснювався за напрямами: аналіз контенту сайту, ефективність роботи порталу промокодів, онлайновий майданчик «Радіо NV», подкастингова служба, журнал «NV», присутність і активність в соціальних медіа. Медіадіяльністьпроєкту вивчалася з урахуванням принципів, викладених у редакційному кодексі.

У статті розкрито особливості та ефективність кросплатформного просування контенту у гібридному медіапроєкті «New Voice». Виявлено ключові методи та стратегії, що допомагають проєкту досягати успіху в медіапродакшені. Зважаючи на зібрані та систематизовані в результаті дослідження дані, робиться висновок, що медійна діяльність проєкту «New Voice» є прикладом успішного провадження новинного виробництва в умовах медіагібридного середовища. Застосовані «New Voice» технології та стратегії можуть слугувати сценарієм / добіркою практичних рекомендацій при запуску нового медійного проєкту або ж оптимізації механізмів роботи вже дійсного.

Ключові слова: кросплатформне просування; медіасередовище; гібридне медіасередовище; контент; медіа; журнал; вебсайт; соціальні медіа; соціальні мережі

Main aprt

Problem statement. The study of news production peculiarities in a hybrid media environment is constantly becoming more and more relevant in the context of the need to reveal the processes that lead to the transformation of media production. To meet the audience request, uphold journalistic standards, and achieve media monetization success, the optimization processes in news production and developing models for new content are crucial for driving innovation in all media, including those in Ukraine. Rapid advances in news production technologies require significant changes in critical analysis. While existing research provides valuable insights, there exists an inquiry for more systematic and in-depth studies exploring an impact of technologies on media product commercialization. This is critical not only for the industry growth but also for its survival in contemporary world conditions.

The research aim is to determine and specify general aspects of news production in modern framework, taking into account the peculiarities of media hybrid environment in which news production is currently accomplished. This milieu has a significant impact on all stages of news production. Therefore, there is a need to study the specificity of this process in order to identify potentially successful models of commercialization in media activities.

The object of the study is the modern news production process in the media hybrid environment used by the Ukrainian resource «New Voice» in 2023.

The subject of the research is the mechanisms and dynamic changes in the news production process caused by the specifics of the media hybrid environment.

Given the contentious nature of the terms «hybrid media environment,» «hybrid media system,» and «news production,» an approach aimed at clarifying these definitions, viewing them as distinct components of the media landscape is provided. The term «hybrid media environment» delineates the coexistence and interaction of various media types within the definite environment, alongside the patterns of media content consumption within this context. On the other hand, «hybrid media system» refers to the organization of the media industry through the integration of diverse media formats and platforms. Nonetheless, both concepts shed light on the shared attributes of the contemporary media sphere and the dynamic evolution occurring within it.

Valaskivi and Robertson (2022) refer to the Chadwick's definition of a «hybrid media system.» The scholars explored this concept in a political context. According to Chadwick, the interlacement of professional journalism and social media creates a new media system for political communication. In this context, there is a growing role of the Internet in interpersonal communication and leveling of communication opportunities. It leads to diminished authority of established media and journalistic institutions as agenda setters, blurred genre boundaries, and heightened disinformation and propaganda processes. Valaskivi and Robertson underscore the significant impact of the hybrid media environment on worldview perception, the destabilization of traditional communal beliefs, and the emergence of new forms of hyperreal and postmodern ideologies (Valaskivi& Robertson, 2022). Toivanen provides a more specific definition of the «hybrid media environment,» viewing it as an amalgamation of «old» and «new» media practices heavily influenced by digital technologies. As a result, hybrid interplay of various publications occupies its place, but a division of media into «mainstream» and «counter-media» appears. This counter-media includes online information resources that challenge mainstream media, often questioning their reliability and criticizing them for concealing the truth or altering content (based on research of Finnish media). According to scholars, in a hybrid media environment, «the roles of consumers and producers become blurred, and the intent behind the content is difficult or impossible to detect.» It leads to the concept of «content confusion» arisen, where genres morph and mimic each other to the extent when the process of distinguishing news content from advertising one and that of fictional is becoming increasingly challenging. This, in turn, further exacerbates the «post-truth era» and facilitates the spread of fake news (Toivanen et al., 2021).

Poyhtari's research, in the context of Finnish media coverage of the refugee issue, attention is drawn to the modification of the participants' roles in the hybrid media environment. It stresses not only the matter of blurring their boundaries, but also of redistributing influence between «old» and «new» media players. The emergence and dynamic development of such hybrid media «players» as social networks, blogs, and alternative online media have significantly weakened or at least transformed the prerogative of traditional media to determine the way public interprets certain events. Nowadays, this process of shaping public opinion and perception is actively influenced by online parties. They create their own news selections, share that content with their subscribers and interact with the last, comment on, broadcast their personal views or values in their context. Thus, the audience (the public) on which certain media content is intended, determines how to interpret it, shapes the agenda, and, more recently, is increasingly becoming the creator of this media content itself (Poyhtari et al., 2019). Accordingly, in the hybrid media environment, the concept of «network framing» emerges, which is a comprehensive approach to interpreting events. This framing includes a variety of tools: linking, emoticons (reactions), reposting, sharing, etc. These tools generate different interpretations of events and have an ability to shift the emphasis in their interpretation, drawing attention to news that may go unnoticed in traditional media fields. Network framing cuts both ways: on the one hand, it promotes pluralism of opinions, but on the other, it may enhance polarization among different social groups. It has a potential to generate biased and aggressive debate, as well as perpetuate a state of information isolation through the forming of information bubbles or bubble filters. Regardless of whether the effect of network framing is positive or negative, it is to be recognized that it has become an integral characteristic of the modern media environment. Without taking this phenomenon into account, it is impossible to fully consider and understand modern media processes.

Accordingly, the hybrid media environment and the hybrid media system are absolutely unique structures in the modern media space, as they possess a number of specific characteristics inherent. In turn, these structures modify all the elements that exist and interact within them. As a result of this interaction, the following new phenomena and concepts are generated: «hybrid media,» «hybrid news

production,» «hybrid genres,» etc.

The analysis of recent research and publications on the topic of the article highlights the problem of defining such concepts as «hybrid media environment,» «hybrid media system» and «news production.» The works of Valaskivi (2022), Neyazi (2022), Toivanen (2022), and others focus attention on the lack of a sustainable approach to the definition of these categories. Despite the methodological uncertainty, digital aspect of media activity in the media space is systematically analyzed by media research organizations such as We are social, Kepios, GWI, Siteefy, Business of Apps, Statista, Internews, and the international news agency Reuters. Amal (2022), Fu (2023), Qi (2022), Ridwanullah (2022), Stamenkovic (2022) define the key features of media hybridity, such as convergence, multimedia, and interactivity. The researchers focus on the changing role of the audience in the hybrid media environment, transformation of the news life cycle, news production algorithms and news understanding; they also develop effective models for monetizing content in the context of media activities.

In particular recent studies the formation, selfsufficiency and fruitful functioning of the hybrid news production process, as well as the media content in general are evident, as they are aimed at examining individual aspects both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Singh et al. (2022) propose a method of representing a hybrid news text by distinguishing three main components - keywords, sequence of appearance, and their semantics - to improve the accuracy of fake news detection. Severin-Nielsen (2023) examines how politicians use social media as a platform for their professional communication: in particular, raising questions about the ways politicians use new technologies generated by the hybrid media environment, and how it affects them or their communication with citizens in general. Huhtinen et al. (2019) analyze the phenomenon of hybrid warfare in the context of the hybrid media environment. Issawi (2019) examines the role of the press in disseminating alternative narratives in the hybrid media environment: the context of the Moroccan prodemocracy movement of 2011.

According to the study by Edgerly&Vraga (2020), media hybrid practices directly affect the process of content creation, which combines news and entertainment, and sometimes includes fake news. Contemporary news, produced in accordance with journalistic standards, is losing credibility, but entertainment content is gaining popularity: sensationalism and «soft news» are highly valued, while «hard news» is also becoming more adapted to a softer form. The concept of hybrid media content, which is the integration of news and entertainment, is emerging. In this context there arise the questions: whether the audience is able to distinguish the news in the frame of media hybridity from other content that is generally considered «news,» whether this distinction is significant, or whether the genre labels have not lost their relevance in modern media environment. The way the audience receives content is also transforming. First of all, the aspect of content personalization is coming to the fore. In other words: how a consumer, among hundreds or thousands of different competitive media products, finds the content they are looking for, or adapted to them personally. First and foremost solution is: through content aggregation and filtering, which have migrated to the hybrid media environment from the digital one.

In the field of news aggregation research there exist different interpretations of this concept. Some scholars define aggregators as websites that collect content from various sources to save time, money, and effort. These websites also offer functionalities such as data archiving, structuring, and creating personalized news collections. Other school of thoughts view aggregators as software tools that automatically collect and organize news for consumers according to certain criteria. There is a broader view of the term «aggregator,» under which individual services including both websites and applications that provide homogeneous services are meant. They simplify user's navigation on the web. Despite the variety of definitions, all approaches describe news aggregation as the process of searching, collecting, structuring and optimizing the display of news stories on a single platform. This is done to provide media consumers with quick access to different sources on one resource, without the need to switch between different information portals. This method makes it easier to navigate the media space, allows choosing the view of the most relevant materials for a particular user and even activates the function of notifications about the appearance of new materials in the categories they are looking for. It maintains the information up-to-date and helps users stay aware of the latest events and news.

Research methods. The New Voice project (or NV) is an independent media holding. NV MEDIA LLC owns two companies: Publishing House Media-DK LLC and RADIO-ERA TV and Radio Company LLC (coowned with NV MEDIA LLC). The project was founded in 2014 and was functioning under the brand name NovoeVremya until 2022. On December 30, 2022, due to Russian full-scale invasion of

Ukraine, the project name and logo were changed to New Voice and NV, respectively. The project leader VitaliySych explained that after Russian annexation of Crimea the initial name no longer corresponded to the Ukrainian values: «We have always defended and promoted personal and economic freedom, Western-orientated social, political, and economic transformations in Ukraine. Today, we no longer want anything to do with the language and culture of a country that is the antithesis of everything we believe in and have been fighting for all these years» (Sych, 2022). At the beginning of 2024 the NV project consists of a bilingual online news portal nv.ua (Ukrainian and English versions), an all-Ukrainian talk radio station Radio NV, a podcasting platform NV Podcasts, mobile applications NV and NV Podcasts, a printed periodical, special projects, and an extensive system of presence in various social networks and messengers.

NV cooperates with leading Ukrainian and global media organizations, including The Economist (British edition), The New York Times (American edition), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), and Deutsche Welle (German Broadcasting Company). They also partner with the Ukrainian non-political public association Aspen Institute Kyiv, as well as international organizations Deloitte (consulting and audit), Hay Group (consulting), and the European Business Association. Additionally, NV has partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, the international media development organization Internews and the US Embassy in Ukraine (New Voice, 2024).

The cross-media activities of the New Voice project were analyzed in six areas:

1. Content analysis of the website (studying the content and content formats) and evaluation of the audience reaction to different types of content.

2. The effectiveness of the promo code portal.

3. Peculiarities of the online platform «Radio NV» functioning.

4. The structure of the podcasting service.

5. NV magazine.

6. The presence and activity of the resource on social media.

The media activity of the project was studied taking into account the principles outlined in the editorial code published in 2021. This code defines the mission and purpose of the project editorial office, the general journalistic and internal project standards that it adheres to, the policy of interaction with the audience and behavior in social networks, deportment when correcting content and using copyrighted content, delineation of the purely media product of the project and materials containing the expression of personal opinions of editorial staff, rules for marking advertising and commissioned materials, the structure of ownership and the top management of the editorial office, ways of financing and monetizing media activities (New Voice, 2021).

As a basic definition in this article the hybrid media environment refers to a modern media ecosystem, where different types of media coexist and interact. The mentioned are: conventional (press, radio, television) and new digital media (websites, social networks, streaming platforms, mobile applications). Their interaction generates different opportunities of content creation for media professionals and offers diverse ways for the audience to consume media products. In turn, a hybrid media system is a media structure where different types of media (innovative and out-ofdated) are integrated and interact with each other; where media formats and platforms are combined to form an integrated information system. Hybrid media systems combine different media sources, formats and channels to ensure diversity and accessibility of information for the audience.

1. Results

The discussion of the news media production peculiarities within the hybrid project «New Voice» is obvious to begin with basic definition of these media information policy conceptual foundations. As it was mentioned before, contemporary «New Voice» originates from the information and analytical weekly «NovoeVremya» (New Time), founded in 2014 (the name of the publication was in the Russian language and its full version was «NovoyeVremyaStrany» - «New Time of the

Country») by a team of journalists who had previously worked for another Ukrainian news magazine, «Korrespondent.»

In general Ukraine has quite a strong track record of publishing news magazines, which began in 1999 with the launch of the weekly Politics and Culture (Khotiun, 2012). Afterwards, from 2002 to 2009, the following magazines, which have become classics, appeared: «Korrespondent» (2002), «Focus» (2006), «UkrainskyiTyzhden» (2007), and «Krayina» (2009). These publications formed a type of Ukrainian news weekly that combined both: the features of the American press (segmentation of news, its distribution into sections and headings, substantive content of the main headings), and the Western European publications - rejection of «group journalism,» unification of the style of presentation, expansion of the genre palette. Ukrainian media added purely national aspects: to distance themselves from the government and pro-government political forces, focus on the elite and socially active segments of society (Khotiun, 2012). When journalists launched NovoeVremyaStrany in 2014, most of them brought experience from their successful 12-year tenure at Korrespondent. This experience influenced the editorial formula of the new magazine, incorporating some aspects of the established publication.

In particular, the editor of the former NovoeVremya V. Sych, in an interview for Detector Media on 20.05.2014, when asked: «In terms of layout and content, the magazine is a remake of Korrespondent under the leadership of VitaliySych, but with a more airy layout. What format did the editors focus on? What niche do you see yourself in?», he replied: «It is not exactly Korrespondent. There are, of course, similar features <…>But it has slightly different structure, slightly modernized design, so the magazine is different from Korrespondent» (Korkodym, 2014). 2019 launched the first

rebranding: the logo was shortened to the

abbreviation «NV.» V. Sych explained this change by the outlived and non-relevant coexistence of two brands, «NV» and «NovoeVremya», that arose due to the transition to cross-platform promotion: in 2017 Dragon Capital, which already had such Ukrainian media assets in its portfolio as «NovoeVremya» magazine and website, completed the acquisition of Radio Era. The newly created radio station was named Radio NV. This created the need for one umbrella brand for the entire company, which the editorial team decided to name NV: the name was also aimed to facilitate the transition to the Ukrainian language by removing Russian words from the logo. However, the weekly magazine remained in Russian until 2021. The first issue entirely in Ukrainian was published on August 12, 2021. And, as it was already mentioned, on December 30, 2022, the name and logo were changed to New Voice and NV due to Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On July 30, 2021, NV published its independent editorial code of eleven chapters, which, in particular, defines the mission and purpose of the project editorial office, the general journalistic and internal project standards it adheres to, the policy of interaction with the audience and behavior in social networks, deportment in correcting content and using copyrighted issues, the distinction between the purely project media product and materials containing expressions of the editorial staff personal opinion, the rules for labeling advertising and commissioned materials, the structure of the ownership in the project, and the editorial office structure. NV mission is to promote the formation of personal and economic freedom, support the rule of law, and socio-cultural diversity in Ukraine. The main goal is to provide the information on all aspects of events and topics in Ukraine and worldwide. According to the editorial board statement, NV has no political interests, and its main value is the importance of the media product for its audience. The NV editorial team maintains basic journalistic standards such as reliability, timeliness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, completeness of information, separation of facts from opinions and judgments, as well as providing information about the source and protecting anonymous sources. NV editorial team has developed mechanisms for detecting and correcting errors and removing inappropriate media materials. It also provides an opportunity to refute and respond to information. Ethically, the NV editorial board respects human privacy, protects the rights of non-age ones, restricts access to sensitive content, adheres to the principle of presumption of

innocence and avoids situations that may cast doubt on the impartiality of the team members.

NV operates in seven media areas with a conceptual focus on the website https://nv.ua/. According to SimilarWeb, nv.ua is ranked as 36 in terms of the visitors number among all Ukrainian websites and 8th among online news portals in Ukraine (hereinafter referred to SimilarWeb data, January 01, 2024). The list of nv.ua competitors

includes such popular portals as ukr.net (96.5 million), pravda.com.ua (59.6 million), obozrevatel.com (49.8 million) and others.

More than half of nv.ua visitors view only one page of the site, although the average number of views per visit is approximately three web pages, and the average visit duration is 2 minutes and 24 seconds. The main audience of nv.ua consists of users from Ukraine (78.87%), but the site is also visited by the United States representatives (6.08%), Germany (2.23%) and the United Kingdom (1.13%) people. In terms of demographic distribution, men compile the major audience (66.39%), the largest age group is 65plus-year-old people (22.38%), followed by visitors aged 55-64 (22.18%), and 25-34 (16.8%).

Most of the traffic to nv.ua comes from direct (34.85%) and referral (33.2%) sources. Original search accounts for 25.64% and social media: for 5.48%. Among social networks most users come to nv.ua from Facebook (56.01%), Reddit (16.13%), X (13.43%), YouTube (11.22%), and Telegram (1.81%).

As for the technologies used, it is estimated that nv.ua uses 127 digital tools, 68 of which are advertising ones. Structurally the nv.ua website consists of more than twenty main sections, half of which include additional subsections:

- section «Ukraine» consisting of the «Events» and «Politics» subsections, as well as an additional special project subsection «Actually. Countering Disinformation,» which redirects the user from the news feed to a separate page of the project developed jointly with the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. The project is available in two languages (Ukrainian and Russian), and all articles there are freely available in the general news feed of NV;

- a separate section «War in Ukraine» is about the armed conflict in the country, with the maps of hostility courses, as well as expert analytical materials;

- section «Kyiv» is about the news in the capital of Ukraine;

- section «World» includes the Geopolitics and Countries subsections;

- section «Views» of the NV website contains publications from Ukrainian and foreign experts, opinion leaders, scientists, businessmen, politicians and other specialists in various fields. In this section the authors express their personal opinions, remaining responsible for their statements and compliance with legal norms. The section has its own telegram channel NV Views, which publishes the best author's opinions: those having gained popularity among a wide audience. Unfortunately, the channel has virtually ceased to be active, with few publications in 2021 and 2022, and no publications in 2023. Starting in 2022, the telegram channel switched from Russian to the Ukrainian language;

- section «Business» on NV website focuses on providing news and analysis from the Ukrainian and international business spheres. This section includes nine subsections, such as Economy, Finance, Companies/Markets, Telecom/IT/Media, Top 100 Profiles, Articles, Interviews, Experts, and Retail/Real Estate. It differs from other sections of the website in the fact that it has its own color scheme: green, which differs from the traditional red color of NV. The section also has a separate Facebook page, which actively publishes posts at different intervals and has 36 thousand subscribers. However, it is worth noting that this page is not a self-sufficient news resource, as it does not publish original content, but only links to articles from the NV website with a short description and a hint image. Thus, the Facebook page actually reproduces the existing content available on the common resource;

- section «Techno» covers news from the science, electronics, and IT industries. It includes six subsections: IT industry, Gadgets, Innovations, SciPop, Blogs, Games. This section also has its own separate platform outside the website: the NV Tech Telegram channel with news and reviews. The channel has less than 1,500 subscribers, an average of several hundred views per post (although there are also 'viral' posts with thousands of views) and at the time of the appeal was also in an inactive phase. However, from March 2022 to July 2023, news was published regularly;

- section «Auto» with five subsections: News, Test drive, Articles, Choosing a car, Car market;

- section «Sports,» which includes eight subsections: Euro 2024, Football, Boxing, MMA, Hockey, Tennis, Olympics 2024, Other;

- section «Health,» which includes five

subsections: Medicine, Nutrition, Fitness,

Happiness, and Sex;

- section «Gambling» of NV website is dedicated to news in the gambling industry, including gambling and casinos. This section was created in cooperation with the «Slots City» trademark, which is a network of licensed gambling establishments. The main goal of the section is to popularize legal gambling and create educational content on this topic. It is important to note that the materials in this section are not intended to encourage participation in gambling, and that the publication is not responsible for financial losses of the audience which may arise because of participation in such entertainment. NV strictly complies with the relevant Ukrainian legislation in the field of gambling. The Gambling section includes three subsections: News, Articles, and Reviews;

- section «Life» on NV website is a diverse content area that combines various interesting facts and recommendations from different spheres of life. It contains news about entertainment, recipes, tips for improving health and relationships, as well as various ratings and tops. The section has thirteen subsections covering such topics as beauty, fashion, health, travel, food, and celebrities, etc, and its own Instagram and Facebook pages. On the Facebook page, the main content is duplicated from the website, while the Instagram page uses more visual approaches, such as photo and video content, short descriptions of the news, pointing to sources of information, and creating various content formats, such as reels, stories, and interactive posts. Currently Life has over 70 thousand followers on Facebook and almost 4.5 thousand followers on Instagram;

- section «LOL.» The name of the section speaks for itself (from the English network slang phrase 'laughing out loud'), it contains humorous, ironic and sarcastic materials, ridiculing laughable and absurd events, situations, aspects of socio-cultural and political life in Ukraine and the world;

- section «Shopping,» in which NV collects favorable offers from various online retailers (promotions, discounts, promotional codes, bonuses for purchasing a particular product) and reviews them. Shopping includes nine different subdivisions. Since February 2022 new publications in the section have almost stopped;

- section «Special Projects,» which does not have its own website but is a list of hyperlinks to NV materials published as advertising. There are thirteen of them in total;

- section «Video,» which consists of four subsections: «NV,» «NV Radio,» «NV Lectures» and «Boneless.» Each of these subsections offers a unique selection of videos, which are presented in the form of teaser posts with a headline or a vivid image with short quotes or descriptions of the material. The materials in all subsections have similar format: a video embedded from YouTube without the need to switch to another platform, a title, a short description, and sometimes links to the publication in social media or other projects. The «NV» section publishes videos created specifically for the online version of the issue; «Radio NV» presents materials broadcast on the respective platform; «NV Lectures» features videos from discussion panels organized by the publication; «Boneless» offers episodes of a satirical program that is part of the «Radio NV» project and positions itself as a 'satirical summary of the political week';

- section «Longreads,» which is a collection of all voluminous texts published on the website;

- section «Cards» is an author's format of presenting content from «NV», which is built in the mode of a 'question and answer'. Structurally, the materials in this section consist of three main parts: a kind of «loft» - a title picture with the headline of the material, the number of cards, the date of publication, the number of views and a bookmark (a function to save the material to a reading list); the title of the material; an outline, which is a list of questions united by a specific topic; in the same part there are links to social networks and messengers of the publication; the cards themselves are small blocks of answers to the questions posed. The cards are not limited in terms of topics: the materials cover a large number of areas, from politics and science to light entertainment and gaming issues;

- section «Dossier,» where you can find publications on certain individuals. For easier orientation, the search bar and alphabetical search functions are integrated into the section page;

- section «NV Premium,» which is a selection of exclusive content of the publication available in full only by subscription.

The site also has three sections: «Promo Codes,» «Radio» and «Podcasts,» which are also separate platforms that redirect users to other platforms that, although independent, operate on the basis of the main resource, i.e. are its subdomains (nv.ua ^ promokodi.nv.ua, radio.nv.ua, podcasts.nv.ua).

NV Promo Codes is a platform where NV collects profitable offers from popular stores and trading platforms, including exclusive propositions for portal visitors. By cooperating with various stores, the resource provides special promotional codes and discounts that are available only to its visitors. Unlike other sections, NV Promo Codes does not contain journalistic publications, but focuses on compiling collections of promotions and discounts from various trading platforms. Thus, it acts as a discount aggregator and is an additional source of shopping offers.

Radio NV is a nationwide broadcasting station which is on the air daily from 8 am to 7 pm. Its content includes news, analytics, and interviews with various guests. Although it is a radio station, the content is also available in video format, allowing the audience to watch the studio and its participants online. The network covers 67.5% of the Ukrainian territory and has more than 200 cities; the content can be accessed via FM, YouTube or the Radio NV website, as well as through the NV Podcasts app on smartphones and computers.

NV Podcasts is a multimedia digital platform made available on the Internet for a large audience in Ukraine: it has a wide range of releases from Ukrainian authors. This platform is available both in a web version and in an app for IOS and Android. The podcasts can be sorted by different categories, such as news, politics, culture, and sports, as well as by authors, including representatives of various professions and industries.

Among the project activities the NV Magazine is a brand-building one. As already mentioned, the magazine was a weekly socio-political issue, but with the beginning of Russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the publication was suspended. For the first time during the russian invasion in Ukraine the magazine was published in December 2022 (the pause lasted more than 9 months) as a special project in cooperation with the British weekly news magazine The Economist, in an expanded format of 170 pages: it was the form of 2022 results and forecasts for 2023.

In March 2023 the New Voice editor-in-chief announced relaunch of the printed version publication as a monthly with a new design and concept. Five issues were announced in this format in 2023. The first issue was released in April; it contained more pages than before, and there was an emphasis on infographics. Subsequent issues were published in May, August, October, and November. The editors considered the relaunch a success and planned to renew subscriptions to the magazine.

NV has an English-language version: The New Voice of Ukraine; it is available through the website. The variety of its content is less wide, as it consists of five sections, including Exclusive, Nation, Business, Life, and Opinion. Each section has a news feed that can be sorted by different categories. The New Voice of Ukraine also has its own social media with a large number of subscribers, but its activity is mostly limited to announcements of materials from the main resource with a short description and a link.

NV has active profiles on six social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, TikTok, Viber, including its own mobile app. Each network has unique content, but they mostly announce materials from the main website. For instance, the YouTube channel Video NV releases interview videos and news, while Instagram focuses on visual content. Each network has its own subscribers and activity, but content is possible to be often duplicated across platforms. The NV mobile app allows access to news in a simplified format without materials from other resources.

As it is stated in NV editorial code, the project is self-sustaining. This basis was confirmed by the account from the registration data monitoring service Opendatabot: in 2021, the net profit of MEDIA-DK Publishing House LLC amounted to more than UAH 7 million, and in 2022 it was almost UAH 40 million (Opendatabot, 2024). The media holding is financed through investments from the owner and through self-sufficiency. The financial structure of the holding is determined by various sources of income, in particular, the income of the New Voice website consists of revenues from display advertising, native advertising, paid PR publications, reader subscriptions, paid lead generation, monetization of the editorial YouTube channel and Facebook monetization, as well as by receiving grants for individual projects. In addition, some aspects of the media holding financial strategy should be thoroughly considered: i.e. the New Voice website introduced paid access to some of its content a few years ago, and it also develops lead generation and has partner sections that promote the activities of certain sponsoring companies.

New Voice revenue also comes from voluntary one-time or regular donations, user sponsorship of individual projects, and a 'paid friendship program' that provides various benefits and bonuses for subscribers. In addition, the publication receives funds from the sale of the magazine and, when possible, uses the commercial platform NV Promo Codes to cooperate with various brands. Among the additional sources of income there could be monetization of content through various social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, TikTok.

These sources of income are only part of the publication financial capabilities, as the media holding has a diverse structure of media platforms and social media, which may also be additional sources of content commercialization.

New Voice is a set of integrated media projects, including an online news portal, a broadcasting station, a podcasting service, mobile applications, a printed magazine, social media pages, and event management. The project is one of the most influential news resources in Ukraine, maintaining a high level of media quality. The project achieves profitability through a variety of revenue sources, including the owner investments, those from advertising, PR publications and paid subscriptions; lead generation, monetization of content through social media platforms, grants, donations, sponsorship, sales of printed magazines, and other revenues are also in the list. The study of New Voice activities confirms the effectiveness of various strategies for monetizing media products, such as paid access, event organization, affiliate marketing, and others. There are prospects for further development of New Voice, especially in enhancing its social media presence and developing new media platforms.

Based on the data collected and systematized during the study, we may conclude that the media activities of the New Voice project are an example of successful news production in a media hybrid environment. The technologies and strategies employed by New Voice can serve as valuable examples or practical recommendations for launching a new media project or optimizing the operations of an existing one.

References

media production hybrid project

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