#19 The News Homepage Formula: A/B Testing, Ice Ice Baby stunt, and Losing Control to Personalization. Helge Voll Hustad at VG (Schibsted)

#19 The News Homepage Formula: A/B Testing, Ice Ice Baby stunt, and Losing Control to Personalization. Helge Voll Hustad at VG (Schibsted)

In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise sits down with Helge Voll Hustad, Homepage Editor at VG — Norway's largest news site, where he curates the homepage with news for millions of Norwegians. They start with VG's now-famous "Ice Ice Baby" homepage, run in the middle of one of the darkest news months of the year, and what it says about the room editors have to experiment, even on a heavy news day. From there, Helge walks through the real mechanics of editing a tabloid homepag at scale: why "the mix" of hard news and light news is a constant balancing act, why a billionaire's name in a headline often underperforms simply writing "the billionaire," and why familiar faces like Prime Minister Støre don't need a caption at all — something AI headline tools still can't reliably figure out. The conversation also digs into personalization and control. Helge used to be able to place every single story on VG's front page by hand. Now an algorithm controls everything below the top 20 — and he's candid about what that trade-off costs an editor, what VG would need to see before moving that line further, and how the team weighs personalization against its societal responsibility to surface hard news. They close on the three KPIs VG actually optimizes for, the "superuser trap" of editing for readers who visit eight times a day versus once, and why VG's extreme high direct-traffic share makes the homepage worth protecting. 🎧 Topics we cover: * The "Ice Ice Baby" homepage and how far editorial humor can go * What a homepage editor actually does, curating 70–80 live articles * "The mix" — balancing hard news, sport, celebrity and politics * Why an NYT study of tens of thousands of A/B tests found no universal rule * Billionaire vs. named billionaire, and when a picture replaces a caption * Where AI headline generation breaks down — and why * Losing control: from editing every story to only the top 20 * The bonfire principle vs. personalization, and the societal obligation problem * Clicks, quick exit, and demographics — VG's three core KPIs * The "superuser" trap: editing for readers who visit 8x a day vs. once * Why so much of VG's traffic comes directly to the Homepage * A closing question passed from Tarmo Paju (Delfi) on journalism's role in covering war 🎧 Subscribe to Insight Shapes News for conversations on journalism, AI, personalization, and the structural changes shaping the news industry.

#18 INMA Berlin, Die Zeit, Media Pioneer, and Why Trust Is the Only Advantage Left. Tarjei Gilbrant at Kilkaya

What happens when two people who talk before every episode finally sit down in front of a microphone together? In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise is joined by Tarjei Gilbrant, CEO and co-founder of Kilkaya, fresh from the INMA World Media Congress in Berlin. Both participated in separate study tours visiting major German publishers. This conversation is their debrief — not a polished summary, but a direct exchange on what actually made an impression, and what it means for the industry. The episode covers several publishers across both tours. Die Zeit stood out for its multi-format strategy and how it uses investigative data journalism — including an AI-assisted project that made Nazi party membership records from the US National Archives searchable for the first time. Tagesspiegel surfaced something most publishers quietly recognize but rarely address: their homepages are built for people who visit ten times a day, not the majority who arrive once. Media Pioneer operated from two boats on a Berlin river. That detail aside, what made it notable was a subscription model reaching 76,000 paying subscribers — and a community-first approach that includes a tier priced at 10,000 euros per year. Der Spiegel ended its relationship with Outbrain and Teads. Tarjei explains why he sees this as worth celebrating, and why he considers that category of widget a structural problem for editorial trust — not just a vendor choice. Running through all of it is a question the industry keeps circling back to: in a world where AI can generate content at scale and platforms continue to reduce referral traffic, what is the actual advantage of being a publisher? 🎧 Topics we cover: * How Die Zeit used AI to make historical Nazi membership records searchable and what it produced editorially * Why the homepage is still optimized for the wrong reader * The build-or-buy question and why enthusiasm is a productivity multiplier * Why trust is no longer just an advantage — it may be the only one * What Media Pioneer gets right about community and subscription * The campfire analogy and why shared editorial context still matters * Why AI confabulates with confidence on low-data subjects — and what that means for breaking news * Der Spiegel removing Outbrain and Teads, and the revenue outcome * Why republishing the same content as everyone else has no future * What multi-format strategy actually looks like when done well If you work in newsroom leadership, editorial strategy, product, or publishing, this episode is a ground-level account of what some of Europe's most interesting publishers are doing — and what the industry still needs to figure out. 🎧 Subscribe to Insight Shapes News for conversations on journalism, AI, personalization, and the structural changes shaping the news industry.

#17 Introducing Personalization Where the Newsroom Usually Says No — At the Top of the Homepage. Ivar Krustok & Tarmo Paju, Delfi Estonia

Content Personalization in news products has typically been placed in low-risk areas—below articles or in separate recommendation modules further down on the page. What happens when it is introduced higher up the page? We talk about the top! In most news products, around 80% of clicks happen on the top part of the page. Very few readers scroll far enough to engage with content further down. This makes the top section both the most valuable and the most sensitive area to change. In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise speaks with Tarmo Paju (Managing Editor - Development and Innovation) and Ivar Krustok (Chief AI Officer) from Delfi about their approach to testing personalization in a more visible editorial context. Delfi did not begin with the homepage. The work started in the sports section—a high-volume environment with frequent updates and a loyal audience. This provided a controlled setting to test how personalization affects both editorial workflows and user behaviour. Even in this setting, the questions were familiar. Editorial teams need to understand how content is selected, how priorities are set, and what level of control remains. All the things that we question with Black box personalization creating echo chambers... The discussion focuses on how Delfi structured this work. Personalization is applied within defined boundaries, where editors can prioritise, override, and adjust outcomes. The system is based on simple signals, including whether a story has already been read, combined with editorial input. This changes how the front of a section is managed. Some manual work is reduced, while responsibility for key editorial choices remains. 🎧 Topics we cover: * Why personalization is usually limited to lower parts of the page * Why Delfi chose the sports section as a starting point * How personalization behaves in a high-volume news environment * What editorial control looks like in practice * How pinning and override functions are used * Why transparency matters for internal adoption * The role of simple behavioural signals in ranking content * How workflows change for front page editors * What to consider before expanding to the homepage * The relationship between relevance, coverage, and editorial responsibility If you work with editorial strategy, product, or personalization, this episode examines how these systems can be introduced without disrupting core editorial principles. 🎧 Subscribe to Insight Shapes News for conversations on journalism, AI, personalization, and structural change in the news industry.

#16 Technology Is No Longer Neutral. Why Infrastructure Is Becoming a Strategic Risk for News Companies. Endre Dingsør at Choose European

Technology used to feel neutral. Infrastructure choices were seen as operational decisions handled by IT teams. That assumption is now being challenged. In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise speaks with Endre, a technology strategist and founder of the initiative Choose European, which maps European software alternatives and promotes greater digital sovereignty. The conversation explores why technology infrastructure is increasingly becoming a strategic question for news organizations. As AI accelerates, cloud platforms consolidate power, and geopolitical tensions influence technology ecosystems, decisions about vendors, models, and infrastructure can directly affect independence, cost structures, and long-term flexibility. Endre explains why the idea that technology is neutral is fading. Infrastructure providers control data flows, AI capabilities rely on massive datasets, and dependency on a small group of global platforms can create strategic vulnerabilities for publishers and companies. The conversation examines what realistic alternatives look like. Rather than framing the choice as Europe versus the US, Endre argues for hybrid strategies that combine global innovation with diversified infrastructure, open-source technologies, and regional providers. For media organizations, this shifts technology from a procurement decision to a leadership responsibility. 🎧 Topics we cover: * Why technology is no longer politically neutral * How AI is accelerating infrastructure dependency * The strategic risks of vendor lock-in in cloud and AI platforms * Why newsroom technology decisions belong in the boardroom * Digital sovereignty and what it actually means in practice * How publishers may be repeating the same dependency pattern seen with search and social * Why hybrid infrastructure strategies may become the norm * The role of open-source technologies in reducing strategic risk * Why Europe is seeing a renewed push for sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure * How media organizations can start diversifying their technology stack If you work in newsroom leadership, editorial strategy, product, or technology, this episode explores why infrastructure decisions may become one of the most important strategic choices facing media organizations in the coming decade. 🎧 Subscribe to Insight Shapes News for conversations on journalism, AI, personalization, subscriptions, and the structural changes shaping the news industry. Chapters: 00:00 The Shift in Tech Control and Societal Development 00:16 Andre Dingsør's Perspective on Digital Sovereignty 00:44 The Changing Nature of Technology as a Geopolitical Tool 00:56 Biggest Underestimated Tech Risks for News Publishers 01:04 Technology and Trust in Journalism 01:25 What Newsrooms Need to Understand About Tech Changes 02:00 Andre Dingsør's Background and Focus on Sovereignty 02:12 The Political Shift in Tech Infrastructure 04:03 AI as an Accelerator of Geopolitical Power 05:47 The European Response to Tech Sovereignty 08:55 Dependency on US Tech and Social Media 10:00 European Cloud and AI Solutions for Media 11:36 Influence of Infrastructure on Editorial Independence 12:58 Bias and Control in Large Language Models 15:07 Trust and Data Security in AI and Cloud 17:29 The Cost Wave of AI Infrastructure 19:35 Migration Challenges in Tech Stack Dependencies 20:50 Building Digital Sovereignty Through European Solutions 23:35 Europe's Viable Alternatives to US Tech Giants 26:43 US Tech Mindset and European Market Dynamics 28:21 Balancing Global AI Leadership with Responsibility 29:41 Using Hybrid Models for Cost and Sovereignty 33:30 Local Language Models and Cultural Nuances 35:09 Practical Steps for News Publishers on Tech Sovereignty 39:11 The Future of Rebalancing Global Tech Power 40:18 Leadership in the Age of Technological Change 42:29 The Role of Media in Crisis and Information Dissemination

#15 The Leadership Model in Newsrooms Is Broken. What Needs to Change? Jeremy Clifford at Chrysalis Leadership

What does it take to lead journalists through uncertainty, resistance, and constant change? In this episode of Insight Shapes News by Kilkaya, host Nils Ove Håland Riise speaks with Jeremy Clifford, former Editor-in-Chief of one of the UK’s largest media organisations and now a leadership coach working with newsrooms. Jeremy argues that the demands placed on newsroom leaders have shifted significantly. Editors are expected to manage AI adoption, interpret data, drive subscription growth, and guide teams through restructuring and uncertainty. Many were promoted for their journalistic ability rather than for leading people. The conversation examines where leadership most often weakens: unclear communication, misalignment between strategy and daily priorities, reluctance to address performance issues, and insufficient preparation for handling resistance to change. Jeremy outlines practical approaches from his coaching work, including how to structure performance conversations, how to establish authority without needing expertise in every technical area, and how to maintain trust during restructures. The discussion also addresses how data and AI influence editorial decision-making, and why leaders must operate with incomplete information while remaining clear in direction. 🎧 Topics we cover: * Why newsroom leadership struggles during transformation * The difference between editorial skill and leadership capability * A structured method for handling difficult conversations * How tone and communication shapes newsroom culture * Leading journalists who resist strategic change * Managing trust and morale during restructuring * The balance between authority and influence * How data and AI affect decision-making * The importance of clarity under pressure * Whether leadership can be developed If you work in newsroom leadership, editorial strategy, or product, this episode offers a focused discussion on how leadership shapes organisational outcomes. 🎧 Subscribe to Insight Shapes News for conversations on leadership, personalization, subscriptions, and structural change in journalism. Take your Leadership Readiness Assessment test from Jeremy: https://assessment.chrysalis-leadership.com/ Chapters: 00:00 The Need for Quality Leadership in Newsrooms 02:49 Navigating Change and Digital Transformation 05:16 Building Effective Leadership Skills 08:00 The Importance of Leadership Tone 11:07 Earning Influence in a Newsroom 14:01 Selecting the Right Team Members 16:50 Handling Difficult Conversations 19:33 The Role of Empathy in Leadership 22:06 Communicating Change Effectively 25:05 The Impact of AI and Data on Leadership 27:45 Values and Trust in Leadership 30:24 The Challenges of Leadership Under Pressure 33:10 The Evolution of Leadership in Newsrooms 35:59 The Future of Leadership with AI 38:47 Navigating Data in Leadership 41:48 The Importance of Clarity and Authenticity 44:31 Connecting with Staff in High-Pressure Situations 47:06 Is Leadership for Everyone? 49:52 Self-Reflection and Growth in Leadership 52:50 Final Thoughts on Leadership Challenges