Media Voices Podcast

For publishers with a well established content workflow, adding podcasts can seem like a daunting task. But, as this Conversations episode demonstrates, those publishers already have what is needed to create and distribute podcasts that add value to your audience and business alike. Media Voices co-founder Chris Sutcliffe talks to Eurosport’s Aude Baron and Podinstall's Sarah Toporoff to discuss: What are the biggest challenges for publishers trying to get into podcasting? How did Eurosport overcome these challenges? What is best practice for repurposing video as audio content, and what are the benefits of distributing podcasts directly from your own website? Visit https://www.podinstall.com for more information.

In this week's episode we hear from Robbie Kellman Baxter, an author and consultant with over twenty years of experience in subscription pricing, digital community, and freemium. Robbie started working with membership and subscription models like Netflix while they were still sending out DVDs, and has written The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction exploring the membership models of the industry giants, and how organisations of any size can take a slice of the subscription pie for themselves. Robbie is currently working with FIPP on an online event exploring the world of direct-to-consumer revenue models for media businesses.  In the news roundup we speak about a report that local publishers are set to lose tens of millions from the demise of the third-party cookie, ask if The Athletic's mooted sale to the NYT was always a cynical scale play, and examine what the likely features of Twitter Blue are. Esther sings Eiffel 65.

This week we hear from Bo Sacks, lecturer and media expert, about trends that have come and gone, why he thinks there’s strength in print as a niche product, and why we’re currently in the golden age of publishing. In the news roundup we discuss the vampiric Alden Global Capital acquiring Tribune Publishing (née Tronc), Snapchat's push into augmented reality, and Axel Springer's "sudden" and "inexplicable" partnership with Facebook. Watch Peter floss over at the Media Voices TikTok channel.

In this special episode, the Media Voices team take a look at which media companies and personalities have been the biggest winners and losers of the lockdown-era. From The Big Issue to almost every event company, we try to find the silver linings for publishers in what's been a mostly awful year.

This week Mental Floss editor in chief Erin McCarthy tells us about how its celebrating its 20th anniversary, how the magazine started in a university dorm room, its mission to help people feel smarter and how the team decides what to cover. In the news roundup the team discuss a good week for a business-savvy Twitter, a bad week for Facebook and Snapchat, and the worst few years of all time for Yahoo & AOL. Peter has emails older than Esther.

This week Twitch's Creative Strategy Lead Jack Woodcock tells us about the opportunities for publishers around livestreaming, what lessons we can learn from the success of individual streamers, and how the team at Twitch looks to the community when creating new features. In the news roundup the team discuss the rise of subscription products for podcasts, ask why local news isn't reaping the digital ad boom, and discuss Gannett paying some women nearly $30,000 less than their male peers. The team critique Steve Jobs' fashion choices.

In this week's episode we hear from co-founder Gina Tonic on The Fat Zine - an independent magazine by fat people for fat people plus those that care. We spoke about the F word, the influence of Pitch Perfect, being an activist vs being a publisher, Fat Liberation and how inside every thin person there’s a fat person dying to get out. In the news roundup we take a look at which publishers have come out of the pandemic in the best shape, ask why there have been so many journalism unions established over the past year, and look at how Reach is using Instagram. Esther questions Peter's tech credibility, regrets it.

This week, we hear from the Wall Street Journal’s Editor of Live Journalism and Special Content Kim Last. She talks about the role of live journalism at the publication, how they adapted when the pandemic hit, and what they are doing to bring events and networking to life virtually as their Future of Everything Festival approaches. In the news roundup we discuss Dollar Shave Club pulling its funding from Mel Magazine, ask if Substack Local can solve the issue of news deserts, and test Peter's knowledge of monthly newspaper subscription prices as Reuters goes behind a paywall. See you on Wednesday for the Publisher Podcast Awards '21!

This week Hannah Robathan, co-founder of Shado, tell us about the realities of publishing a print magazine and online platform that gives people the space to tell their own stories. We spoke about their frustration with the mainstream media, what activism means and what success looks like for Shado. In the news roundup, the BBC and Reach make big announcements about office closures, we ask if an Instagram for under 13s is as crazy as it sounds, and discuss the Telegraph tying its journalists' appraisals and potentially pay to their stories' performance. We desperately need a break - see you on April 12th!

On this week's episode The Big Issue CEO Paul Cheal tells us about the magazine’s fight to survive lockdown, the innovations that got it through and how those changes have spurred new ways of thinking about how the Big Issue will work in the future. In the news roundup the team recaps a week that reflects poorly on the UK media landscape and asks what can be done to improve its bigotry issue. We also look at Google's PPID solution, The Information's five new newsletters, and BuzzFeed gutting HuffPost. Peter sings a song to celebrate a major life achievement.

This week James Stables, founder and Co CEO of tech recommendation sites Wareable.com and The Ambient, discusses the meteoric rise of the business, unknown SEO problems, and the precarious nature of affiliate revenues. In the news roundup it's Peter vs. Esther in the battle of reader revenues. We discuss the Facebook Oversight Board's teething troubles, several new launches, and City AM's return to print. Chris wears out a new sound effect in the space of a single episode.

In this week's episode Hannah Taylor, editor and founder for The Delicate Rébellion, tells us about her print magazine showcasing the work of independent female creatives, the community that has grown out of the magazine and her new online shop. She tells us how crappy teachers led her eventually to start her own magazine to encourage women to follow their creative passions. In the news roundup the team discusses Twitter launching its subscription options for creators, the ongoing saga of Australia and the Duopoly, and why Al Jazeera is launching a platform for conservatives in the US called ‘Rightly’. The team disagrees about Peter's new sandwich idea at length.

This week Megan Lucero, director of the Bureau Local at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, provides us with a look at the present and future of local journalism. From the trials of finding resources to the project mentality behind some powerful stories, Lucero provides a hopeful and achievable look at how regional media is changing. In the news roundup, we discuss the fallout and hot takes from the Australia/Google/Facebook news and try to come with a workable solution to an intractable problem. Esther's back!

This week Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, tells us where newspapers are going wrong in their subscription marketing. We also discuss why there’s no easy solution to the need for internal change in newsrooms, why Nordic countries outperform when it comes to the membership mentality, and why we should look to Coca-Cola for advice. In the news roundup we take a tour through all the subscription-focused news of the past week, ask whether we should join Clubhouse, and examine the rise of bookazines. Chris and Peter sing kids' TV themes.

This week Zach Seward, CEO of Quartz, explains why he bought the business lifestyle brand from Uzabase. He tells us how it all started and how it’s going, about memberships and advertising, and the Quartz mission to make business better. In the news roundup Peter and Chris discuss the opportunities for The New European after its purchase by a consortium of the best and brightest in the media business world. We also discuss Google's latest advertising battles, the launch of URL Media, and the sad closure of The Overtake.

This week Dr Samir Husni, founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media, tells us why magazines are the ultimate new media. He explains the wild ride that was magazine publishing in 2020, his print evangelism, the benefits that digital brings and his favourite magazine. Oh, and why he's called 'Mr. Magazine'. In the news roundup, Chris and Peter discuss Twitter getting into the subscription business, why Facebook is allowing people to monetise misinformation, and if Nextdoor is the future of local news. Welcome to the world, Emily!

This week we hear from Yahoo Lifestyle's Editor in Chief for Southeast Asia Reta Lee. We talked about her career in media and her work at Yahoo Lifestyle, including spinning up new content pillars and identifying new trends. She also discusses the opportunity for eCommerce in Asia, collaborating with teams in the US and UK, and what opportunities she's got her eye on over the next few years. In the news roundup we ask what motivates the constant argy bargy between tech platforms, countries and publishers. We examine why Forbes wants to launch a contributor network for newsletters, and ask if Rolling Stone's pay-to-play model is the death of culture. Good luck Esther!

Last year, the team at Pugpig decided to take a step back from their day-to-day development work and get a sense of what was going on in the wider digital publishing market. Analysing data from their publishing clients and interviewing 40 senior executives, they created the company’s first annual State of the Digital Publishing Market report. As the platform provider for over 300 media brands - from The Economist to The Independent - Pugpig is in a unique position to answer key questions about the digital publishing market. In this special Conversations episode of Media Voices, Peter Houston is joined by Pugpig founder and CEO Jonny Kaldor to discuss what’s been happening in the world of digital publishing, and what to expect from 2021.

This week Ian McAuliffe, founder and CEO of Think Publishing, talks about the evolving landscape of contract publishing. He tells us about the ideal employee or a contract publisher, the ideal client and how the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption amongst traditionally conservative clients, but still not killed off print. In the news roundup, we discuss Axios launching its own communications platform that will enable businesses to update their employees in Axios’ bullet-point style, scary stats for newsletter-based publishers, and the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of misinformation on Twitter.

This week Sara Fischer, Media Reporter at Axios, tells us about her process for crafting a thoughtful, informative newsletter, whether Axios’ ‘smart brevity’ model can work for local news, and what lessons she’s taken from covering media companies that she applies to her own work. In the news roundup the team discuss the fallout for publishers from Trump's ban from social media, and the trends that led to this point. We also talk UK local news priorities, why Meredith’s Travel + Leisure has been acquired by a timeshare resort company, and the appointment of the new BBC chair. Peter auditions for the next Terminator movie.