Zetland (company)
{{Infobox website
| name = Zetland
| logo = Zetland-logo-orange.png
| url = {{URL|www.zetland.dk}}
| type = News
| registration = Yes
| language = Danish
| num_users = 18,000
| creators = {{hlist|Jakob Moll|Silke Bock|Hakon Mosbech|Lea Korsgaard}}
| editor = Lea Korsgaard
| launch_date = {{start date and age|2012|03|23|df=yes}}
| current_status = Online
}}
Zetland is a Danish media company founded in 2012. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it publishes three to four news articles daily, focusing on long-form stories and in-depth articles.{{cite news|last1=Lichterman|first1=Joseph|title=Start your meetings with a folk song — and other ideas from the community-driven, crowdfunded Danish news site Zetland|url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/07/start-your-meetings-with-a-folk-song-and-other-ideas-from-the-community-driven-crowdfunded-danish-news-site-zetland/|work=Nieman Lab|date=July 25, 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Ciobanu|first1=Mădălina|title=How live journalism brings people together to build trust and excitement around stories|url=https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-live-journalism-brings-people-together-to-build-trust-and-excitement-around-stories/s2/a702606/|website=journalism.co.uk|date=13 April 2017}} A subscription-based organization, it had more than 18,000 subscribers as of November 2020. The editor-in-chief is {{ill|Lea Korsgaard|da}}, formerly of Berlingske and Politiken,{{cite web|last1=Hansen|first1=Kartin L.|title=Journalism startup Zetland will be at SNDS16|url=http://snds.org/journalism-startup-zetland-will-be-at-snds16/|website=snds.org|date=31 August 2016}} who co-founded Zetland along with Jakob Moll, Silke Bock, and Hakon Mosbech.{{cite web|last1=Pontes|first1=Angela|title=Danish startup Zetland spreading the love with its membership model|url=https://blog.wan-ifra.org/2017/02/23/danish-startup-zetland-spreading-the-love-with-its-membership-model|website=blog.wan-ifra.org|publisher= World News Publishing Focus by WAN-IFRA|language=en|date=23 February 2017}}
Founded in 2012, Zetland originally created single long-form stories, called e-singles, delivered monthly to subscribers. Journalists would also read their works at public events, similar to Pop-Up Magazine in the U.S.,{{cite news|last1=Sillesen|first1=Lene Bech|date=March–April 2015|title=The power of Pop-Up Magazine's live journalism|url=https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/the_power_of_pop-up.php|work=Columbia Journalism Review|language=en}} which have become central to Zetland's business model. The company name derives from a hybrid between a zebra and Shetland pony.
History
In 2015, Zetland initiated a relaunch with a crowd-funding campaign which raised over 530,000 kroner (kr.), and additional investments of 8 million kr. The relaunch occurred in March 2016, with Zetland offering daily news articles.{{cite web|last1=Cobben|first1=Ingrid|title=Innovation in Denmark: building a community willing to pay for quality journalism|publisher=World News Publishing Focus by WAN-IFRA|url=https://blog.wan-ifra.org/2016/08/23/innovation-in-denmark-building-a-community-willing-to-pay-for-quality-journalism|website=blog.wan-ifra.org|language=en|date=23 August 2016}} In 2016, revenue was 6.2 million kr. In 2018 Zetland is to receive 1.8 million kr. for editorial production services from the Danish cultural board {{ill|Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen|da}}.{{cite news|last1=Andreassen|first1=Andreas Marckmann|title=Tre nye medier får støtte – Zetland får 1,8 mio. kr.|url=http://journalisten.dk/tre-nye-medier-faar-stoette-zetland-faar-18-mio-kr|work=Journalisten.dk|date=12 December 2017|language=da}}
Since the relaunch, notable pieces have included conversations with Justice Minister Søren Pind and British sociologist Anthony Giddens.{{cite news|last1=Holm|first1=Adam|title=Anmeldelse: Turen går til Zetland|url=https://politiken.dk/kultur/medier/art5615587/Turen-g%C3%A5r-til-Zetland|work=Politiken|date=18 March 2016|language=da-DK}} In 2017 Zetland won a trio of awards from the Society for News Design Scandinavias, including gold and "Best of Show" in the digital news category for front page, and silver in the website category.{{cite news|last1=Hedegaard|first1=Anne-Laura|title=Zetland vandt guld for hjemmeside. Nu laver de en ny|url=http://journalisten.dk/zetland-vandt-guld-hjemmeside-nu-laver-de-en-ny|trans-title=Zetland won gold for website. Now they are doing a new one|work=Journalisten.dk|date=28 September 2017|language=da}}{{cite web|last1=Hansen|first1=Kartin L.|title=Finnish and Danish media houses top Scandinavian news design|url=http://snds.org/finnish-and-danish-media-houses-top-scandinavian-news-design/|website=snds.org|language=en|date=27 September 2017|publisher=Society for News Design Scandinavias}}
Zetland has been offering its stories in audio format as well as text, and that has rapidly become the most popular aspect of the site, with 60% of members now consuming their content in audio.{{Cite news|url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/05/zetlands-members-asked-for-an-audio-version-and-now-its-more-popular-than-their-written-stories/|title=Zetland's members asked for an audio version — and now it's more popular than their written stories|work=Nieman Lab|access-date=2018-05-10}} In 2021, it switched from MP3 to Opus for its articles' audio recordings, which attained a 35 percent reduction in bandwidth and reduced climate footprint.{{Cite web|title=Audio formats and their climate footprint|url=https://sustainableweb.dk/en/audio-formats/|website=Sustainable Web|date=2 February 2022|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=How a tip from a member made our audio files 35 percent greener|url=https://www.zetland.dk/historie/sO9kyxkv-mowGPqpz-7c77c|website=Zetland|date=25 November 2021|language=da}} Korsgaard attributes the growth of the title to its focus on a membership model as a community, and a constrained number of stories per day, making the site "finish-able" each day.{{Cite news|url=https://onemanandhisblog.com/2017/04/zetland-journalism-profitable-community-service/|title=Zetland: journalism as (profitable) community service|date=2017-04-24|work=One Man & His Blog|access-date=2018-05-10|language=en}}
Zetland achieved financial stability in 2020, with the help of a member-get-member campaign in 2019 that contributed to a 25 percent growth in the span of a month. The campaign was later awarded several awards, including Best Idea to Grow Digital Readership or Engagement from INMA Global Media Awards and Best Digital Marketing Campaign for a News Brand from WAN-IFRA European Digital Media Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.inma.org/blogs/main/post.cfm/inma-unveils-global-media-awards-winners-covid-campaigns-get-top-nod|title = INMA unveils Global Media Awards winners, COVID campaigns get top nod}}{{Cite web|url=https://wan-ifra.org/2020/04/strong-nordic-performance-as-wan-ifra-european-digital-media-awards-announced/|title = Strong Nordic performance as WAN-IFRA European Digital Media Awards announced|date = 23 April 2020}}
In May 2020, former Head of Product Tav Klitgaard [https://journalisten.dk/jakob-moll-stopper-paa-zetland-ny-direktoer-er-fundet/ replaced co-founder Jakob Moll] as CEO, with the latter pursuing academic studies abroad. In 2023 Zetland launched Good Tape, a speech-to-text transcription tool initially created for internal use that was later spun off as a separate entity.{{Cite web|date=2024-02-22|title=Toolbox #3: Zetland|url=https://thefix.media/2024/02/22/toolbox-3-zetland/|access-date=2024-03-29|website=The Fix|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://www.zetland.dk/}} (in Danish)
- [https://www.zetland.dk/aboutzetland About Zetland] (in English)
Category:Mass media companies based in Copenhagen
Category:Danish companies established in 2012