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

"Like other podcast companies, Vox Media has in recent months increasingly focused on ramping up the video component to many of its chat shows to tap into the massive audiences for those on platforms like YouTube and TikTok." [Semafor]

MrBeast acknowledged management problems to his staff and promised to hire an HR manager. [Fast Company]I think we're going to see a lot more creator-led companies go through these sorts of growing pains as they transition from one-man bands to full-fledged media companies.

THIS IS INTERESTING: Substack has made it so any logged-in user can publish an article on the app regardless of whether they've gone through the steps of setting up a newsletter/publication. Seems like it's directly competing with Medium now in some respects. [Substack Reads] On a related note, I posted this observation the other day: “I’m starting to see a lot more engagement on Substack Notes. Is it taking off?”

Have you noticed an increase in musician biopics? That's due to investment firms buying up song catalogs and then finding new ways to drive demand for those songs: [Bloomberg] FROM THE ARTICLE: "Thanks to streaming, songs can be monetized many times over, rather than simply being part of a one-time album sale, generating royalties long after their initial glory days. That’s why more investors are now looking at music as an asset."

Podcasters are ditching traditional studios so they can add more visual elements into the video versions of their shows: [Bloomberg] FROM THE ARTICLE: "On Bobbi Althoff’s The Really Good Podcast , she’ll sometimes host a sit-down interview. But often she puts her guests into new situations – such as playing tennis with comedian Bobby Lee, painting at a pig farm with Rainn Wilson or walking through a haunted museum with Matt Rife. "

How The Ankler converts its free audience into paid subscribers

When Richard Rushfield launched his Hollywood industry newsletter The Ankler in 2017, he ran every aspect of the business, from the content creation to the customer service. Today, The Ankler resembles a more traditional trade magazine, with a seasoned editor-in-chief and multiple staff writers.

But even though Richard took on a small amount of VC investment, most of the company’s growth has been organic, fueled in large part by an extremely successful paid subscription model.

In a recent interview, Richard walked through The Ankler’s comprehensive strategy for converting its free audience into paid. The conversation touched on topics that included how his staff determines which articles to place in front of and behind the paywall, why they diversified into multiple newsletters focused on specific niches, how The Ankler uses teaser content to drive conversions, and why he’s decided to stay with Substack:

There are certainly things that we want to do that Substack isn't doing yet. You'll get plenty of people that come and tell you, ‘oh it’ll cost you $5,000, and I'll have a new site for you by Monday.’ And I've been through a lot of site builds in my time, and I know that it's never easy or simple. And the advantage of Substack is that they've now been out there for how long? Six or seven years? And they've had six or seven years of catching the bugs and sorting out all those little things that you don't necessarily think of in advance. It's still a new platform, and there are things that they haven't got into yet, and so that is a little frustrating bumping up against it. But I like how much they've thought through. And also they have a really robust internal community now where substackers recommend each other, and that's a huge driver for us of the internal Substack audience.

More quick hits

Logan Paul has filed a defamation lawsuit against Coffeezilla, another YouTuber who specializes in investigative journalism and published several videos about Paul's crypto scams. Experts estimate that Coffeezilla will need to pay out up to $500,000 in legal fees to defend himself in court, so he's raising money to cover these costs. [The Publish Press]

Andy Borowitz was among the first people within the traditional media world to realize that you can build a direct relationship with your audience on the web. He launched his blog The Borowitz Report back in 2001. After a several-year stint at The New Yorker, he relaunched the blog on Substack and now has tens of thousands of paid subscribers. [Inbox Collective]

CNN's media reporter has left to launch his own independent newsletter. [NYT]

Private equity firms and media conglomerates keep buying up popular YouTube channels, only for the stars of those channels to depart and launch their own independent companies. [The Verge]

The New York Times keeps adding more subscribers in a single quarter than 99% of publications do through the entire lifetime of their digital subscription products. [NYT]

Advertising alone won't fund my newsletter and podcast

Yes, I do accept sponsorships for this newsletter, but currently they make up a tiny fraction of my revenue. Without robust support from paid subscribers, my newsletter and podcast won’t be sustainable.

So far, I’ve been able to say no to all the recruiters who have approached me about full-time roles, but there may come a day when I can’t justify turning them away. When that happens, I may have to shut my newsletter and podcast down, or at least significantly dial back their publication schedule.

There’s only one way to prevent this: become a paid subscriber. Seriously, it’s only $100 for a full year, and if you’re using insights from my content to improve your own business, then that $100 pays for itself. And if you use the link below, you get 20% off for the first year:

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