Noosphere is positioning a “talk back” approach to journalism—where audiences can directly respond to reporters—as the next step in how major broadcasters build engagement. The company’s multiyear licensing deal with Sky News, announced Friday, is designed to give Sky’s reporters and viewers a more direct relationship than the usual one-way format of television news.
Under the agreement, Sky will make use of Noosphere’s technology through an app, with the broadcaster saying it will start by experimenting for its defense and security experts. Sky’s announcement framed the effort as a “dedicated experience expressly designed for highly engaged audiences,” and Noosphere’s overall pitch centers on giving audiences access not only to stories but to the people reporting them.
The technology’s model is illustrated in the way Noosphere’s subscribers interact with individual journalists. The AP described environmentalist Christine Holland, who follows reporting from the Amazon River region, as frequently sending comments and questions and receiving responses from journalist Tiffany Higgins, including a lengthy personal video in reply to one question.
Holland described Noosphere’s format as changing the feel of the reporter-audience relationship. She said she has corresponded with Higgins through text messages in the Noosphere app and that the interaction gives her a personal stake in the stories, making the journalist feel more like someone speaking directly with the person consuming the work.
Holland’s comments reflect an audience demand that Ferguson said media companies have reason to take seriously. The AP reported Ferguson pointing to the appeal of journalists going independent on platforms such as YouTube or Substack, where some creators offer subscribers personal access for a price, as evidence that viewers and readers value that sense of direct connection.
Ferguson, the Noosphere founder and a former war correspondent, told the AP she also is pursuing similar partnerships. She said her company has been in talks with some U.S.-based news companies about arrangements like the one with Sky.
The AP said Noosphere hosts a couple of dozen journalists under a model that allows them to work more like independent contractors. The roster includes former NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd and former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza, and Ferguson said the approach relies on journalists being available to people who follow their work.
Another subscriber described what happens when followers write in through the app. The AP reported that Mike Varga, a retired businessman near Tampa, said he was used to not receiving responses or only pro forma replies when he wrote to news organizations or politicians, but that Todd sent him a brief video “thank you” after Varga complimented a story about tariffs.
Varga said he later wrote to Ferguson after her story about the late British war photographer Paul Conroy, and that she invited him to a focus group meeting about Noosphere. He said it made him feel more connected to a place where he turns for news and that he found it surprising that more media organizations do not do that.
The AP also reported that revenue-sharing is part of Noosphere’s subscription model for audiences following specific journalists, though Ferguson said that business approach is not what is being sold to a broadcaster like Sky. Still, the AP reported that giving Noosphere’s journalists more independence is one possible way to help keep them from leaving for platforms offering direct access.
While no company involved has released financial details of the Sky arrangement, the AP reported that neither Sky News nor Noosphere offered terms, and Noosphere has not publicly said how many subscribers it has.