Q4 Media Landscape Update + Ryan Browne Interview
Five questions with: Ryan Browne @ CNBC
The tech industry has always been global, with semiconductor supply chains spanning the planet and investors like Softbank working across continents, all while the internet and cloud computing eschew borders. The 2020s further cemented the industry as an always-on force, given the growth of foreign investment in startups and digital infrastructure as well as the escalating race for AI supremacy among world economic powers.
Communications must adapt accordingly, and take into account international storytelling. Sometimes, this means leveraging regional expertise to break into local trade publications. Other times, this entails finding a specific global or cross-regional impact of a story that will appeal to a reporter at a multinational publication. At SBS, we do this often – with that in mind, we decided to check in with CNBC’s Ryan Browne, who is based in the publication’s London office. Ryan covers technology, but prefers to break it down into three big buckets: Big Tech, policy & regulation, and emerging or “future” technologies, like AI and crypto.
Ryan works with U.S.-based companies frequently, but is ultimately responsible for keeping a pulse on tech out of Europe – an enormous undertaking, and one that he breaks down below.
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Five questions with…Ryan Browne, CNBC
CNBC has had some big changes in the past year, at least in the U.S. newsroom. From your perspective, how have things changed in your seven years at the pub? What hasn’t?
I’m speaking about the international perspective here, so please don’t take the below as commenting in any way on the U.S. side of CNBC (which is, I admit, most of it).
Things have definitely changed from an output perspective. We are less about pumping out tons of stories every day for the sake of hitting numbers, and more about ensuring quality reporting and picking out the stories that generate a higher ROI (both for us and, if we’re doing it right, our readers!)
Things that haven’t changed? Well, I’m still here! And so is my direct line manager – and managing editor of CNBC. And so is my closest colleague, Senior Tech Correspondent Arjun Kharpal. Many other colleagues who’ve been here a long time and who I respect very, very highly. And, we are just as tight knit and close as colleagues as we’ve ever been, which is always going to be a good thing!
You’re based in London, and you have a focus on European companies and news, but you’ve covered major U.S. and global stories as well. How should PR people—and the companies they work with—think about your coverage areas?
My best advice is to check out my author profile page! What are the stories I’m writing, and what is missing there that you think I’m not paying attention to and that you (or your client) have got something valuable to say on?
There is no “secret,” to be honest, and I can’t respond to every pitch that comes through. But my biggest piece of advice is to just understand the reporter you’re trying to get in touch with. What are the trends / topics that make them tick? I’m a sucker for emerging / future technologies and how the biggest tech companies are using and applying them in their operations. And, it has to be said: I will always be more focused on the bigger tech companies – Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, OpenAI, etc. In Europe, it’s usually more the fintechs/bigger tech unicorns by market cap: Klarna, Revolut, Monzo, Starling Bank, etc.
I’m less likely to read a pitch that involves a smaller / early stage startup. But, if your startup is doing something that is genuinely groundbreaking and / or not being done in a way that others are doing it, the likelihood is that’ll pique my interest. Another tip I have here, on a pure “editorial focus” slant, is that it’ll always be slightly more interesting for our readers if such startups are attracting either funding or partnership interest from large tech and / or enterprise firms. So that’s always a bonus. Oh, and I prefer a company that’s at least making above £100m revenue as a rule (but that can’t always be the case, obviously – esp. with startups!)
You covered a ton of crypto stories during the industry’s early 2020s heyday. Are you looking to do more of that, or have you (and more broadly, the mainstream media) moved on?
I still cover crypto intermittently. But it is much lower volume than 2020 / 2021, for sure. The market just isn’t as mad as it used to be back then. Today the main tech getting the market buzz and attention is (obviously) AI. So that tends to be where focus shifts – we focus on what our readers are focusing on, and vice versa (I know, it’s a bit “chicken and egg!”) But, yes, in a long-winded response to your Q, I am still interested in crypto stories. Again, it goes back to “why is this interesting to us” in the sense of, what does it do that’s genuinely “new” and different to what others are doing.
What do PR people need to know about working with you and CNBC?
Pitches – drop it to me on email. But let’s follow up on WhatsApp. Always better than back and forth’ing it on email (not that I’m completely averse to that as well! Just a pure preference I have).
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading what our competitors write. Can’t help it, haha. Loved this story last week from the Financial Times about OpenAI actively telling investors not to back rival AI startups. Always love a good “AI is cutthroat” inside-baseball industry story.
I haven’t enjoyed a good book in a while, sadly. But the best business book I’ve read in a few years is “Money Men” by Dan McCrum. It’s a fascinating inside look at the wild story behind Wirecard, the German payments company, and their rise and fall.