Media Voices

We really appreciate the support of BlueConic, who are lead sponsors of this season's newsletters and podcasts. BlueConic is the customer data operating system that makes your data work harder, so you don’t have to. Whether it’s capturing valuable audience insights or activating them with precision, the possibilities are endless with BlueConic’s all-in-one platform. See how companies like yours are turning understanding into action and driving real business growth: https://lnkd.in/eMSnZFdZ

One common misconception when it comes to #podcasts is that they are difficult to monetise without a vast audience. For some topics, that will certainly be true. Publishers with existing audiences on other platforms already have a headstart when it comes to promoting a show, but may get frustrated with revenue potential if listeners plateau. The topic of listener numbers, and how many listens everyone else is getting, is something we’ve covered before (hint: if you’re getting more than 29 listens in the first week, you’re doing better than average). Publications should easily be able to build an audience of more than that, but even established podcasts from niche and B2B publications may find they get listens in the hundreds or thousands rather than tens of thousands. B2B publishers have a particular advantage here: a focused audience which may be hard to reach by other means. Daniel Smith, Managing Director of the Mark Allen Group’s Agriculture division, joined The Publisher Podcast this week to discuss creating a podcast for farmers going about their day’s work, where it fits in terms of subscriber acquisition, and their monetisation strategy. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eBSNrJgX

“We’re not delusional in thinking [micropayments] are going to replace the layers of stable subscriptions,” Torstar Corporation's Chief Revenue Officer Brandon Grosvenor told us this week. “But we’ve been extremely impressed, surprised and optimistic about this becoming part of our acquisition strategy.” Read more about how The Toronto Star is using a pay-per-article wall to engage lapsed subscribers: https://lnkd.in/ewDqbJiT

Our team love a podcast 🎙️ So we asked some of them what their favourites are when it comes to keeping up to date with what's going on in the news & media industry. Their favourites included podcasts from PRWeek UK & Media Voices as well as newsletters from Press Gazette & Borkowski (because our CEO asked us if he could include newsletters in his recommendations and we can't say no).

Tons of insight here into #newsletter strategy from Jon Connell of The Knowledge, including how trying to overdeliver can end up putting audiences off. Crucially though, I think the key takeaway is that even with a history of successful product launches in legacy media behind them, the Knowledge team is approaching a newsletter business with an experimental mindset https://lnkd.in/edeUkBVR #newsletters #mediabusiness #podcasts

The Knowledge is a daily digest newsletter founded in 2021. Since then, its readership has grown to over “140,000 happy readers”, who appreciate its format and content. But it took a while for The Knowledge team to identify what makes its product appealing and, more importantly for other newsletter providers, how to experiment without alienating its core audience. https://lnkd.in/eTgbCbph

Our next Publisher Masterclass is led by NationalWorld's multi award-winning podcast producer Kelly Crichton. Join us on November 6th from wherever you are in the world!

On this week’s episode of Media Voices, we hear from Jon Connell, founder of The Knowledge. Connell and team’s aim is to provide an antidote to the outrage engine, instant gratification-baiting nature of social publishing. At the same time they seek to speak to people who are curious and wish to hear from a variety of perspectives; the challenge lies in squaring that circle. In the episode we also discuss the challenges of monetising newsletters, the growing popularity of the newsletter as a medium, and how legacy news brands are adapting to the rise of this new format. https://lnkd.in/eRkq8d3c

Last call for tomorrow's Publisher Masterclass with Dan Oshinsky of Inbox Collective! We've got a good group, some really interesting questions already and a fascinating discussion planned - I'm not planning any more pivots of the Media Voices newsletter for a while but am already looking forward to hearing what Dan has to say. It'll be available on-demand if you can't make it tomorrow, but live attendees will get to join the Q&A. Booking details and other Publisher Masterclass sessions here: https://lnkd.in/emSxTxPG

One year ago, The Economist took a leap of faith and moved all their podcasts (bar one) behind a paywall. It’s paid off, with the publisher saying they have retained 80% of listeners. This week, Director of Podcasts John Shields spoke to us about what they've learned over the past 12 months of Economist Podcasts+. Here are seven lessons from our conversation for other publishers considering launching paywalled podcasts, or making their existing shows available only to subscribers: https://lnkd.in/g427pA4F