Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization
May 21, 2025 Case no. 28
Young Readers
How Mediahuis is figuring out what young audiences will pay for, and what they are learning
Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization at Mediahuis, is – as far as she’s aware – peerless in the news publishing industry. She’s never met anyone with the job she has. Her role was created in September 2024, as part of Mediahuis’ strategy to future proof the organisation leading up to 2030 and beyond. Nizet’s job encompasses all types of monetization, but in this webinar we’re mainly going to focus on her work to meet GenZ where they are in terms of willingness to pay for news. Part of it is about teams and product – Mediahuis has set up a newsroom of GenZ editors. Part of it is really getting to the bottom of how young people consume news, what they respond to and why.
Presented by Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization at Mediahuis
By Cecilia Campbell
"I'm Head of Future Audiences Monetization. It sounds like a job about money, but it really is a job about listening."
Liesbeth Nizet's role was created at Mediahuis in the autumn of 2024. Since then, she's talked to lots of publishers about why they should focus seriously on the question of how they can create a real relationship with GenZ. "It's not just about age, it's about habits. It's about platforms. It's about trust and what we value in our daily routines. And this generational drop off that we are talking about, it's not a coincidence. It's some kind of signal – and it's a signal that we can't afford to ignore if we want to future proof our businesses."
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"My job is about listening. Listening to young people that aren't showing up at our doorstep, listening to why they feel left out today and why they feel overwhelmed or are even done with the news. We need to really ask ourselves, how can we show up differently? In my first weeks, I spoke a lot with young people and they told me, 'news just makes me feel worse'. Or 'I don't even know where to start in all this information flood that I receive.'
The one that really gets me is when someone young told me, 'I don't see myself in those stories.' And then I was thought – okay, but that is something we might do something about. All this input and these opinions are an invitation from young people to do better, to be better. And they really changed the way I think about value, about worth and who journalism is for. Because the hard truth is, you can have the best journalism in the world, but if nobody is paying attention to it or paying for it, our impact will always be limited."
Actionable Ideas from Mediahuis
Liesbeth said that it took guts for Mediahuis to create her role – this is not about testing out making TikTok videos, rather it's goes to the core strategy and asking the big questions. In terms of actionable ideas from Mediahuis, asking those questions is absolutely where you should start:
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How do we stay relevant in the lives of a generation that is overwhelmed by choice?
How do we make journalism feel accessible, engaging, and worth supporting? (Because at the end of the road, we need to see how we can monetize it.)
How do we move beyond selling access to news, and instead offer meaning, relevance, and belonging?
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"I believe is that monetization follows participation. So trust comes before transactions. And if we want people to support journalism, you have to make it worth their care before you ask for money."​
Setting KPIs: the youth friendly engagement funnel
Create a Gen Z brand – produced by a Gen Z newsroom
Mediahuis has created Spil, a new brand producing journalism for young people – and done by young people.
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"This was about creating a new editorial proposition for Gen Z. That means we didn't just tweak the old model, and we didn't ask Gen Z to adapt to us. Instead, we built something new from scratch, and something that they could call their own. This means a news experience designed for Gen Z by Gen Z. So it's a newsroom fully staffed by young talent, and they help us rethink how we hire, retain, and grow."
"In addition to that, we go for a social first monetization to see – knowing how much money is spent on social by advertisers, okay, what can be our share in this? And how can we use or do it together with those younger audiences? For us, for Mediahuis, this is really a 360 degree innovation."
Useful links and contact information
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You are welcome to contact the WAN-IFRA Innovate Local team, if you have questions or examples of similar cases.
Cecilia Campbell: c.campbell@wan-ifra.org
Niklas Jonason: n.jonason@wan-ifra.org ​​