A song to read by: “Training Season,” by Dua Lipa

What I’m reading: “Francisco,” by Alison Mills Newman

Published this week

— Enthusiast Gaming Lays Off 25% of Staff, Following Multiple Cuts Last Year

— AI, the Election and Cautious Optimism: 12 CROs on Ad Trends Shaping 2024

— Google Is Paying Publishers to Test an Unreleased Gen AI Platform

— The Economist Names Disney+ Executive As Its New President

On my mind

Admittedly, I got back from vacation earlier this week and spent the back half of the week readjusting to the time zone and the dreary New York weather, so I am feeling a bit sluggish mentally. 

So, rather than phone something in, I will just keep this newsletter brief and use it to plug a few new, interesting media concepts that have launched recently or will so.

If nothing else, let their debuts be a reminder that, for all the pessimism of the last few months, new ventures are still launching all the time—as good a reminder as any that the industry has no shortage of creative capacity.

LateNighter: A news site dedicated solely to covering the business of late-night television, led by former Adweek extraordinaire A.J. Katz. If you are wondering why LateNight chose the focus it did, they have a pretty good answer.

Micro Center News: Launching tomorrow, Micro Center News will be a news and reviews hub backed by MicroCenter, a national computer and electronics retailer. The reason I am interested in the venture is that it is being led by Dan Ackerman, the former editorial lead of both Gizmodo and CNET, who has pitched it convincingly as more than just a content marketing play. The content-commerce space remains one of the few, slightly more stable models for media, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on.

Sherwood Media: Sherwood Media has not technically launched yet, but it has already published a scoop, hired a murderers’ row of great reporters and is still hiring for more. There are a few reasons to be interested here. First, like Micro Center News, Sherwood Media will be backed by the trading platform Robinhood, giving it a degree of insulation from the standard economics of media (and simultaneously making it vulnerable to the whims of a parent company that could shut it down at the first hint of headwinds). 

Robinhood acquired the newsletter Snacks in 2019, which now reaches around 40 million readers (everyone who signs up for Robinhood is automatically subscribed). Sherwood Media will subsume Snacks, meaning it will get the head start of a massive reading audience. Also, it is being led by the inveterate media entrepreneur Joshua Topolsky, who has fielded some criticism in his time but has also been instrumental in the creation and launch of several beautiful, highly creative media projects.

Flaming Hydra: A writers collective launched under the Brick House aegis, Flaming Hydra features 60 writers who all contribute original stories for the newsletter, which you can subscribe to for a ridiculously small amount of money. The venture has so far scared up around 2,000 paying subscribers, meaning the writers involved are making about $1,200 per year. As Rusty so eloquently puts it, “I’m not sure those are saving journalism’ numbers,” but the project is a great way for some talented writers—seriously, look at the contributors list—to make a little pocket change. 

Dossier: Dossier has yet to launch officially, but it has already begun the work of ginning up white glove branded content work to underwrite its first editorial release, which should debut in the next few months. Founded by the editorial staff of the recently shuttered Departures, Dossier promises luxe travel writing underwritten by a highly focused business strategy, one made largely possible by the connections its founding staff bring to the table.

The week that was

A blur! The weather in New York has been grim, but luckily I had a lovely time skiing with friends and family in Whistler, B.C. the week prior. I went to a lovely dinner party on Thursday, had drinks with two recently heartbroken friends on Friday and saw “Dune: Two” on Saturday, which I cannot recommend enough. If it were released last fall, it could very well be in the Best Picture running! On that note, I will be watching the Oscars tonight, so feel free to text me with your thoughts. 

One good rumor

I asked someone quite familiar with the BuzzFeed business what he thinks will happen to it. His response: Sell Tasty, then get taken private. I thought that sounded reasonable, except for I could not think of who would want to buy BuzzFeed (remember it also owns HuffPost, which I feel like gets omitted in these conversations too often). 

Any thoughts as to potential takers? 

Some good readin’

— This is nominally about AI, but it is the most succinct explanation of why the media industry is crumbling. The answer is advertising! (Stratechery)

— Why pants are big again! I love Jonah Weiner. (NYT Magazine)

— Embarrassed but not surprised that I found this article on the Mr. Porter website (strike one) written by the Twitter fashion talking head Mr. Derek Guy (strike two) incredibly good. So good in fact that I read several other articles on the Mr. Porter site! I am who I am. (Mr. Porter)

— I love the Five Fits With series — it is simple and perfect. (Esquire)

— Great, original reporting about the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic and the fight over his narrative. (Puck)

— Drew Austin at Kneeling Bus is consistently the most accessible, insightful writer about the future of technology and its impact on society. (Kneeling Bus)

— Special hot-take edition: Both of these articles generated significant discourse over the last two weeks, and both were underwhelming. These are not gripes I have with their authors, but rather the reactive online readership who prefers outraged indignation to literally every other emotion ever. (The F1 story and the Marc Benioff Hawaii story)

Cover image: "Fertility,” by Edward Munch