The digital publishing landscape is undergoing one of its fastest transformations in decades.
Smaller teams, shifting audience habits, and unstable referral traffic make editorial planning more complex and challenging without the right tools. Many newsrooms are now managing more beats with fewer reporters, while demand for reliable, high-volume coverage with increasing expectations for relevance, speed, and personalization show no signs of slowing down.
So, we redesigned our Story Hub to make discovering and publishing compelling content fast and reliable.
Nearly 40% of U.S. local newspapers have disappeared over the past two decades, leaving millions of Americans with limited original reporting. The outlets that remain are stretched across wider geographies and lean more syndicated content to maintain coverage breadth.
These pressures show up every day in newsroom workflows. Editors have more stories to sift through and tighter deadlines. The result is a growing need for cost-efficient tools that efficiently surface relevant stories, adapt to audience interests, and reduce manual work.
Across the industry, publishers aren’t finding the right content fast enough. More than half say they struggle to surface relevant stories, and only 22% feel confident in their personalization efforts, and with 76% of publishers we surveyed reporting that they feel understaffed, the data is clear– newsrooms need better support.
At the same time, syndicated content has become a core part of audience strategy, especially for keeping “light” readers engaged. Research from the Poynter Institute shows that wire and syndicated stories help retain the readers most likely to churn, which at the current market moment, is a priority across newsrooms.
Local newsrooms feel this even more acutely. The American Journalism Project finds that in some markets, up to half of all published content now comes from shared or syndicated sources, and syndication networks keep growing. At Stacker alone, we work with over 3000 partner outlets, providing varied, compelling stories to under-resourced newsrooms to help them fill coverage gaps and drive reader retention.
Given the volatility of social and search traffic, publishers need discovery tools that meet their editorial standards and surface the right story at the right moment.
The data pointed to five clear problems to solve:
We designed the new Story Hub to meet these challenges digital publishers face and to help their news teams engage their audiences with the high-quality journalism they’ve come to expect.
While publishers face pressures like shrinking teams, expanding coverage expectations, they also have to meet shifting audience behavior which demands tools that reduce friction and elevate relevance.
Story Hub’s redesign is built to meet that moment by providing Stacker’s publisher partners with a smarter, more intuitive platform that helps newsrooms discover, plan, and publish with confidence.
Sam Kaye is a Product Manager at Stacker. He holds a BA in Journalism from San Diego State University and has a background in audience development, local journalism and SEO.
Photo Illustration by Stacker // Canva