The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

Metro's Newsletter Editor Sophie Laughton on the future of publishers' newsletters

In this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast, Metro.co.uk’s Newsletter Editor Sophie Laughton takes us through… everything newsletter.

From how the Metro’s redesign allowed the newsletter team to break silos, through how they’re solving discovery issues, to what newsletters offer that no other medium can, Laughton provides an A-Z on newsletters for publishers.

This is both a newsletter strategy 101 and a rallying cry for what newsletters can offer to publishers.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

You can easily set up and manage your membership program with Memberful’s intuitive features, from multiple membership tiers and payment options to cater to different audience segments, and maximise your revenue potential.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Women’s Running’s Esther Newman on serving a range of audience needs

On this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast we hear from Esther Newman, Senior Editor and Podcast Host at Women’s Running. Esther explains that a recent exercise to create a persona for the typical Women's Running reader led to the realisation that there were a range of audiences accessing the brand in a variety of ways.

While running is the banner that attracts readers to the brand, a whole host of women’s interests are what drives the community. From a monthly print magazine through a weekly podcast, to a Patreon Discord and social channels, Women’s Running is ‘so many things’ to its diverse audience.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful lets you offer membership perks and exclusive content to your loyal audience, giving you full control over who has access to your articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, private community chats, and more.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Reach Plc's Dan Russell on achieving 4 million referrals from WhatsApp

On this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast we hear from Dan Russell, Reach Plc's Engagement Director (for short). Reach Plc achieved its best ever month for traffic in January, based in no small part on a social strategy that is tailored to each platform - and doesn't rely on chasing huge hits.

The teams across Reach's titles have also seen success in building communities on WhatsApp where, as Russell explains, the limited nature of messaging apps can be a benefit rather than a drawback. He discusses why publishers cannot take the rarefied space of messaging apps for granted, and how the engagement team disseminates universal lessons about community growth across the entire portfolio.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

You can easily set up and manage your membership program with Memberful’s intuitive features, from multiple membership tiers and payment options to cater to different audience segments, and maximise your revenue potential.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Press Gazette's Richard Jamieson on monetising a 60-year-old B2B brand

This week on The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we're joined by Press Gazette's Chief Commercial Officer Richard Jamieson. He takes us for a behind-the-scenes look at how the industry publication makes money, and the huge changes he's overseen in its commercial strategy over the past few years.

Richard outlines the opportunities he saw coming onto a well-respected B2B brand which previously had limited commercialisation but a really strong audience. He also discusses the results of some big changes to their daily newsletter over the past 18 months, the power of face-to-face events, and Press Gazette's newly-launched registration wall.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

You can easily set up and manage your membership program with Memberful’s intuitive features, from multiple membership tiers and payment options to cater to different audience segments, and maximise your revenue potential.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Media Briefs: Norkon's Eirik Næsje and Birger Søiland on the power of live

Live content is a crucial tool for publishers for attracting and retaining readers, especially younger audiences used to finding real-time information from social media. Publishers have an opportunity to add vital context and expertise compared to alternative sources.

This is the latest in our Media Briefs series of short, sharp sponsored episodes with senior executives from a vendor working with publishers to make their businesses better.

In this episode we hear from Norkon CEO Eirik Næsje and VP of Sales Birger Søiland. Norkon delivers innovative solutions to help publishers meet their growth objectives, with a vision to be the global standard in media to attract, engage and retain readers. Eirik and Birger talk to Peter about the increasing importance of live content in 2025's media landscape, including as a tool to enable discovery and build habit.

This episode is sponsored by Norkon. Trusted by publishers like Amedia, La Presse and The Minnesota Star Tribune, the SaaS solutions provider is transforming the digital media landscape with innovative live content solutions that help publishers meet their growth objectives.

Visit Norkon.net to find out more.

Hearst's Katie Vanneck Smith on making magazine memberships successful

This week on The Publisher Podcast we speak to Katie Vanneck Smith, CEO at Hearst UK. Katie's career spans The Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Telegraph, as well as co-founding Tortoise. In the two years since joining Hearst, the company has launched and revamped membership programmes for Elle, Good Housekeeping, Men's Health and Women's Health, and soon Prima and Runner's World.

Katie talks about subscriptions versus memberships, the importance of publishing teams, the future of print, and what the point is of industry associations as she takes up her role as chair of the PPA. She also dives into the formulas that make memberships successful. 

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful lets you offer membership perks and exclusive content to your loyal audience, giving you full control over who has access to your articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, private community chats, and more.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

January 2025 wrap-up

In this bonus episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, Chris Sutcliffe, Esther Thorpe and Peter Houston take a look at what’s happened in the world of media in January. A bonus monthly wrap-up of key news is something new we’re trialling following feedback which said you missed the three of us together and our take on what’s going on.

Here we discuss the boost to publisher coffers from post-inauguration donations, the capitulation of tech-bro capitalists to Trump, and ask what on earth is happening with TikTok.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful is a powerful membership solution with a difference: you always retain full control over your brand, your content, your audience, and your business. Your content always belongs to you, not a platform.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Which?'s Hannah Ballantyne on the importance of social media for building trust and relevance

In this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast, we speak to Hannah Ballantyne, Senior Social Media Manager at Which?, a not-for-profit consumer-focused publication. Hannah contributed to a fascinating article in InPublishing late last year about steering the brand's debut on TikTok; a strategy which has won the team awards.

With the ongoing saga between platforms, publishers and politicians showing no signs of cooling, we had a timely conversation about which platforms they prioritise at Which?, how they assess the value of social media to the publication, and meeting the publication's goals of sharing impartial expert advice to empower consumers. Hannah also explains why dishwasher and pothole content is taking off, even with younger audiences.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful is a powerful membership solution with a difference: you always retain full control over your brand, your content, your audience, and your business. Your content always belongs to you, not a platform.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

1440's Tim Huelskamp on finding white space for a newsletter-based media business

This week on The Publisher Podcast we hear from Tim Huelskamp, CEO and co-founder of 1440, a daily curated newsletter that now reaches over 4 million daily readers. He tells us about finding white space in the newsletter market, the forecast for newsletter advertising, whether the claim to be ‘unbiased’ is a selling point for audiences, and what it means to be an employee-owned media organisation.

Tim was involved in the private equity game for around a decade prior to founding 1440, spending time as co-founder of venture philanthropic funds and as an angel investor. In this episode Tim takes a very nuanced view – some might say pleasantly cynical at times – of the subject. He was very honest and forthright about when private equity works for the media, and why it often doesn't.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful lets you offer membership perks and exclusive content to your loyal audience, giving you full control over who has access to your articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, private community chats, and more.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Wessenden Marketing’s Jim Bilton on publisher product priorities for 2025 and beyond

We’re kicking off 2025’s first season of The Publisher Podcast by talking to Jim Bilton, Managing Director at Wessenden Marketing and Brandlab Research. Jim produces bimonthly research and updates on the business of content distribution through WessendenBriefing, and has decades of experience consulting for media businesses.

In this episode, we explore the standout publisher product trends from 2024, what publishers are investing in this year, and how optimistic everyone is feeling. Jim also highlights some B2B and B2C publishers to watch this year from his surveys, which surprisingly are almost all legacy companies.

This season of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter is sponsored by Memberful, a best-in-class membership solution for independent publishers and journalists who want to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their audience. 

Memberful lets you offer membership perks and exclusive content to your loyal audience, giving you full control over who has access to your articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, private community chats, and more.

Take control of your publishing business this new year with Memberful. Visit memberful.com/publisherpod and get started with a free trial.

Pod in a Pub: Publishing's pivotal moments this year, and predictions for 2025

This episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices – our last for this season – was recorded at the White Swan in Aldgate, London on November 27th in front of a live audience.

In the absence of our usual annual Media Moments report*, we took a fun look back at some of the pivotal publishing moments of the year, and what 2025 might have in store. The audience were invited to participate so we’re able to include contributions from wiser folks than us!

The team’s top stories from 2024

• The Onion announcing it had bought Infowars after Alex Jones’ bankruptcy.
• Google abandoned a plan it announced 4 years ago and has delayed and delayed since then to block third-party cookies from Chrome.
• A federal judge ruled that Google illegally maintains its monopoly in search and search advertising. The government are now proposing Google divest Chrome.
• Condé Nast decided to to fold iconic music-review website Pitchfork into men’s lifestyle magazine GQ
• Five former Pitchfork journalists are getting the band together to start a new online music publication, Hearing Things. 

Predictions for 2025

The print revival comes to news

Esther is hopeful that next year will see a revival of news print. Not newspapers, but news print; weekly or monthly magazine-style editions. Newspapers are clearly in a long-term decline that is unlikely to reverse. But a look at what’s happening with the magazine print revival shows that there is hope for the format, albeit different to what it was a few decades ago.

Caution on over-diversification

At the PPA’s Independent Publisher Conference, Sift’s Chief Strategy Officer Louise White pointed out that the industry has got too absorbed with multiple revenue streams. “The obsession with diversifying revenues is dangerous,” she said on Linkedin. “That’s a bigger media play. Most independents don’t have the expertise or bandwidth and it leads to mediocrity at many rather than excellence in few.”

So the ‘mix of six’ saying we’ve been fans of for years should perhaps be revised for 2025. The key is…three?

Dow Jones' Emma O'Brian on the backroom magic behind a specialised portfolio

In this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast, we hear from Emma O’Brian, SVP Strategy for Dow Jones. Everyone knows Dow Jones – or at least a few parts of its portfolio, even if they don’t know it as part of the greater organisation. But as the company moves from a portfolio-based business to a vertical-oriented publishing and information one, how is that impacting its back room strategy, and how it seeks new acquisitions?

The company is more than simply the index that bears its name, as our guest this week makes clear right from the off. However, much of what underpins its success is the same focus on providing tangible insights to audiences, as and when they need it. Increasingly, its stable of publications under the Dow Jones Portfolio – including the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and many more – are just as integral to their audiences as the index is to stockbrokers and traders. It seeks to deliver relevant information to its audiences, no matter where they may be.

In this episode, the final of this season, Emma sets out how a change in strategy that occurred when Almar Latour came into the role ultimately changed how those publications are aligned and operated behind the scenes.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

Will Hayward on relaunching a successful solo newsletter

This week on The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we're joined by Will Hayward, journalist, author and columnist specialising in Welsh politics. He also writes The Will Hayward Newsletter, which he relaunched in September after running it for nearly a year as one of Reach plc's Substack experiments, where it won Best Politics Newsletter at this year's Publisher Newsletter Awards.

Since going it alone, he's built up more than 3,000 subscribers in just seven weeks, with revenues and subscriber numbers now exceeding its previous iteration. He talks about his journey into covering all things Wales, what he's learned working at the UK's largest regional publisher, and what opportunities he spotted in going solo, even if it meant having to restart his newsletter from scratch.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

Media Briefs: BlueConic’s Patrick Crane on managing data strategies in times of constant transformation

Third-party cookies aren’t going away any time soon, but many publishers have already reduced dependency on them as a revenue stream. As the landscape continues to shift, what should publishers looking towards the longer term be thinking of when it comes to their own data strategies, and how can various types of first-party data play a part?

This is the latest in our Media Briefs series of short, sharp sponsored episodes with a senior executive from a vendor working with publishers to make their businesses better.

In this episode we hear from Patrick Crane, Director of the Core Sales Team at BlueConic, the customer data operating system that makes your data work harder, so you don’t have to.

Patrick explains the current state of the market when it comes to third-party cookies, and where it still has a place in strategies, as well as how publishers can plan their audience data strategies around industry uncertainty. He also sets out exactly what first-party data means, and how publishers should approach it as a process rather than a project.

This episode is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

 

Total Politics' Ludovica D'Angelo on the primacy of product in a shifting media landscape

This week on The Publisher Podcast, as part of the product-oriented remit we’ve set ourselves for the series, we hear from Ludovica D’Angelo, Director of Publishing Operations for the Total Politics Group. As we discuss in the episode, that’s a very specialised publishing business – and a commensurately specialised role.

But for Ludovica, who has previously worked for publications as varied as news magazine The Week and luxury food and drink magazine Il luogo ideale, it has been another opportunity to discover best practice around managing product teams, launching timely new newsletters and titles, and finding new revenue opportunities.

Ultimately, her work - and that of all product teams within media businesses - is about rediscovering the primary of product in a shifting media landscape.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

Saveur’s Kat Craddock on rebuilding a premium print presence on digital foundations

On this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we hear from Kat Craddock Editor-in-Chief, CEO and owner of Saveur magazine, a 30-year old publishing brand that returned to print this year after a 4 year hiatus.

Kat’s announcement that Saveur would be returning to print, is one of the best, most honest explanations I’ve seen of how print publishing has changed. She explains to readers that the magazine will cost more than it used to, frequency will drop to twice a year and supermarket distribution would be swapped out for sales direct-to-readers through Saveur’s own website.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

 

Farmers Weekly’s Daniel Smith on creating and monetising a podcast for farmers

On this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we hear from Daniel Smith, Managing Director of the Mark Allen Group’s Agriculture division, which includes brands like Farmers Weekly, Pig World and Poultry Business. His team are behind the Farmers Weekly podcast, which was shortlisted in the Best B2B Podcast category at the Publisher Podcast Awards earlier this year.

Farmers Weekly have been really smart about monetising a niche podcast topic and audience, so we discussed creating a podcast that would fit into a farmer’s lifestyle, where the podcast fits in terms of subscriber acquisition and engagement, and collaborating with sponsors to create a sale-able proposition.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, 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.

Torstar Corporation's Brandon Grosvenor on early micropayment experiments

On this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we speak to Brandon Grosvenor, Chief Revenue Officer at Torstar Corporation, home of The Toronto Star. Over the summer, The Toronto Star became one of the first large publishers in North America to announce they were rolling out micropayments. It's a feature audiences frequently request - especially with the rise of paywalls - but for a myriad of reasons, few publishers have experimented with.

Brandon discusses why they decided to try micropayments out alongside their subscription offering, the thinking behind their pricing and day pass strategy, and the challenges of audience growth in Canada. He also explains why he doesn't think micropayments will be a significant revenue stream, but still has an important part to play in a publisher's acquisition strategy.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, the operating system that puts data into action for marketing and growth doers. The industry-first solution empowers doers with an unmatched range of capabilities to access relevant customer data, create resonant customer experiences, and drive maximum returns for their business.

More than 500 businesses worldwide rely on BlueConic to unlock their full customer data potential, including Forbes, Heineken, Mattel, Michelin, Telia Company, and VF Corp.

blueconic.com

The Knowledge's Jon Connell on why newsletters are aimed at mindsets, not demographics

On this week’s episode of Media Voices, we hear from The Knowledge’s founder Jon Connell. The Knowledge is a free-to-read newsletter aimed not at a particular demographic, but at a ‘mindset’.

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.

This season is sponsored by BlueConic, the operating system that puts data into action for marketing and growth doers. The industry-first solution empowers doers with an unmatched range of capabilities to access relevant customer data, create resonant customer experiences, and drive maximum returns for their business.

More than 500 businesses worldwide rely on BlueConic to unlock their full customer data potential, including Forbes, Heineken, Mattel, Michelin, Telia Company, and VF Corp.

blueconic.com

The Economist's John Shields on growing subscriber-only podcasts

On this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices, we speak to John Shields, Director of Podcasts at The Economist. They made the bold move last year to put almost all their podcasts behind a paywall, creating a separate Economist Podcasts+ subscription option.

A year on from the launch of Economist Podcasts+, John discusses what drove the decision, some of the risks and opportunities of charging for audio, and the lessons they've learned over the past 12 months.

 

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This season is sponsored by BlueConic, the operating system that puts data into action for marketing and growth doers. The industry-first solution empowers doers with an unmatched range of capabilities to access relevant customer data, create resonant customer experiences, and drive maximum returns for their business.

More than 500 businesses worldwide rely on BlueConic to unlock their full customer data potential, including Forbes, Heineken, Mattel, Michelin, Telia Company, and VF Corp.