Simon Owens's Tech and Media - The paywalls are coming
The paywalls are comingPLUS: The overlooked reason for why chat podcasts have won out against narrative podcastsWelcome! 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. If you fit into the latter camp and want to subscribe, then you can click on this handy little button: Let’s jump into it… Quick hitsIt turns out handing a 26-year-old YouTuber $100 million and promising no administrative oversight isn't a great idea. [Rolling Stone] ESPN has always struggled to strike a balance between broadcasting live sports and producing sports journalism — two roles that can come into conflict when the journalism undermines the business goals of its league partners. Its recent firing of a star NBA journalist is an indication that ESPN's leadership has decided that going all in on live sports broadcasts is the key to survival in the post-cable-bundle era. [House of Strauss] Vox Media has been one of the last major holdouts on digital paywalls. It inherited one when it acquired New York Magazine, but all of its other verticals have remained mostly free. Its decision to launch a paywall for The Verge could be considered an acknowledgement that it's incredibly difficult to fund high-quality journalism through advertising alone. [Status] Taylor Lorenz left the Washington Post and is launching her own independent media business that's focused on covering online culture. She already has 33,000 free subscribers to her newsletter and over a million followers on social media. In her kickoff video announcing the move, she expressed frustration with how legacy media covers online communities — particularly that it doesn't take these communities seriously. [Taylor Lorenz] The Onion used to produce great video content, and I think it'll perform even better in this age of shortform video platforms. Its articles are already short and concise, and they'll translate well for audiences on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. [WashPo] How Andrew Curtin built Construction Wave, a B2B outlet covering the UK's construction industryMost companies buy advertising to drive sales of their products, but Andrew Curtin’s first sponsor mostly bought out of pity. It was May 2022 and he had just launched Construction Wave, a B2B outlet that covers the UK’s construction industry. He had absolutely no audience, but a major crane manufacturing company bought a $10,000 sponsorship anyway. That $10,000 allowed him to hire his first editor, and over the next two years they built Construction Wave up into one of the leading publications in its sector. Its website is mainly monetized through high-priced sponsorships, and this year it hosted its first conference geared toward construction CFOs. In a recent interview, Andrew explained how he got interested in the sector, where he found his initial readers, and why he thinks there’s an opportunity to launch a subscription data product for his industry:
More quick hitsCNN just launched its paywall, charging $3.99 a month. It's intentionally vague on how many free article views will trigger the paywall — probably because it's running various A/B tests on the best conversion strategy. I also wouldn't be surprised if it's utilizing a "smart" paywall that's optimized based on personal use. [CNN] One thing I'd be interested in knowing is whether the company is planning to expand its digital content team, or if it's just going to maintain the status quo and see if that's enough to drive subscriptions. This is a great explainer of how a 55-year-old, disabled artist who was on the verge of homelessness managed to publish a hugely successful graphic novel. [matttt] I think one overlooked reason that chat podcasts have won out against narrative podcasts is that the former doesn’t penalize you if your mind wanders for a bit. A narrative show requires 100% of your focus, but given that people often listen to podcasts when they're doing something else — driving, cleaning, working out — maintaining that level of focus can be extremely difficult. [Wired] The major streamers are still trying to figure out when a movie should receive a theatrical release vs going straight to streaming. Some industry executives have claimed that a theatrical release only boosts streaming viewership, but the evidence offered to support this claim is largely anecdotal. [Bloomberg] I’m looking for more media entrepreneurs to feature on my newsletter and podcastOne 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:
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. ) Want a daily dose of media industry news?I only send this newsletter out twice a week, but I curate industry news on a daily basis. Follow me on one of these social platforms if you want your daily fix: You're currently a free subscriber to Simon Owens's Media Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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14 successful media entrepreneurs share their top growth hacks
Monday, September 30, 2024
If there's one thing I'm most proud of as a creator, it's that I deliver actionable insights from the world's most successful media entrepreneurs. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Traditional media outlets don't like competing with the Creator Economy
Friday, September 27, 2024
PLUS: Should you be distributing your content over SMS text message? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The business genius of US News & World Report's rankings
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
PLUS: Forbes only owns 40% of the affiliate business that generates most of its profits. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Media companies are printing magazines like it's 1999
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
PLUS: How a major tech newsletter fared after leaving Substack ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
How Block Club Chicago reached 20,000 paying subscribers
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
A $183000 Kickstarter campaign provided the seed capital to get it off the ground. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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