Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media industry newsletter. If you've received it, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.

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Quick hits

A cool story about a famous YouTuber launching his own science convention. I think we're going to see creators move more aggressively into live events in the coming years. [Passionfruit]

Yet more evidence that it's difficult to build a scalable company that depends entirely on the large tech platforms for distribution and monetization. [Business Insider]

"Call it ‘influencer fatigue’ or social media burnout, the rise of fashion Substack is a clear indication that people are seeking more depth from their online interactions." [Vogue]

The Atlantic attributes its success to its pivot away from commodity news aggregation: “We pivoted, I would say, to a total quality model on the web. We were doing good stuff on the web for years. We had a large team of young reporters doing news analysis and quick summaries and that sort of thing. But I’ve always believed that the aspect of The Atlantic that differentiated us from everyone else was a commitment to having the highest standards and producing the most complicated, interesting, aesthetically-pleasing, well-written journalism. I think that strategy has borne fruit." [Digital Content Next]

Really excited to be speaking at the FIPP World Media Congress in Portugal! Let me know if you're going and we can meet up. [MX3]

A successful Substack writer gives advice on running a paid newsletter: "a lot of people tend to herd around the same opinions, which especially happens on social media today, but has always happened in the mainstream press. Breaking from the herd is lucrative." [ESG]

WSJ editor on the rise of AI: "I think given that we don’t know what the lay of the land is going to be in five, ten years there are two crucial things for publishers to focus [on]: what do we do that’s irreplaceable? What do we do that a machine can’t do? And there’s plenty there for the Wall Street Journal." [Press Gazette]

ICYMI: How The Author Stack grew to over 31,000 subscribers

I’m looking for more media entrepreneurs to feature on my newsletter and podcast

One of the things I really pride myself on is that I don’t just focus this newsletter on covering the handful of mainstream media companies that every other industry outlet features. Instead, I go the extra mile to find and interview media entrepreneurs who have been quietly killing it behind the scenes. In most cases, the operators I feature have completely bootstrapped their outlets.

In that vein, I’m looking for even more entrepreneurs to feature. Specifically, I’m looking for people succeeding in these areas:

• Niche news sites

• Video channels like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels

• Podcasts

• Newsletters

• Affiliate/ecommerce

Interested in speaking to me? You can find my contact info over here. (please don’t simply hit reply to this newsletter because that’ll go to a different email address. )

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