The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

Media Voices: PPA Scotland's Laura Kelly Dunlop on creating a global festival for magazine lovers

This week, PPA Scotland business manager Laura Dunlop shares her excitement for this year's Magfest conference and the launch of the first Edinburgh International Magazine Festival. She also explains, enthusiastically, why magazines absolutely still matter and might even help us change the world. In the news round-up, Peter and Esther are joined by guest host Alison Warner, a jobbing B2B and brand journalist, and magazine lecturer at the University of Roehampton. We look at why there have been queues round the block in New York to get hold of a print magazine, whether other platforms could adopt Pinterest's tactics for combating health misinformation, and Monocle's new shop in Hong Kong airport. Alison and Peter both have doubts about the BBC's plans to launch an Alexa rival that could understand regional accents.

Media Voices Special: 7 things you missed over the summer

In the first episode back after the summer break, the Media Voices team dive into some of the stories you may have missed while you were sunning yourself somewhere nice, or holding the fort for colleagues who were doing the same. Join us as we recap the GateHouse/Gannett merger (as well as the proper pronunciation of 'Gannett'), go round in circles with Facebook's plans for a News tab, sort of celebrate some new print launches, and debate what 'Knewz' actually means. This episode also features some questionable paywall innuendo.

HuffPost UK Executive Editor Jess Brammar on section launches & a new school of journalism

This week, Jess Brammar, Executive Editor at HuffPost UK talks to us about a number of their recent launches, from the HuffPost School of Journalism in partnership with Birmingham City University, to two new sections on the site which replace the famous blogs section. She also discusses what it's like moving from broadcast to digital journalism, how the news landscape has evolved, and how she keeps her team motivated during the non-stop Brexit news cycle. In the news roundup the team has a lengthy discussion on when it is and isn't acceptable to profile a fascist and the best way to do so, whether UK Netflix rival BritBox will succeed, and The New European's transition to a Guardian-like revenue model.

Media Voices: The Guardian's CRO Hamish Nicklin on sustainable journalism and fair advertising

On this week's episode of Media Voices, the Guardian's Chief Revenue Officer Hamish Nicklin takes us through the newspaper's journey to profit through membership and contributions, the reestablishment of 'premium' advertising, and its plans through to 2022. In the news roundup Chris and Peter take a look at TikTok, an audio collaboration between Reach plc and JPI Media, and discuss whether there are limits on who can call themselves a journalist. Peter's rendition of Happy Birthday gets perilously close to a Marilyn Monroe impression.

Media Voices: Beano Digital Network Head of Editorial Lydia Mossahebi on bringing the comic to life

This week, Lydia Mossahebi, Head of Editorial for the Beano Digital Network, talks to us about how they bring the essence of the comic to life online. We discuss the role of data and the 'Beano Brain' in making editorial decisions, how they keep up with what the next 'big thing' is for kids, and how video is becoming a huge part of the work they do. Farting zebras may come up in conversation. In the news roundup the team debates the ethics of Facebook cracking down on medical misinformation in the newsfeed, Apple News+ going on a 'listening tour' after a disastrous first few months, and good news for The Economist's newsletter team. The team invites Big Bird onto a panel about online misinformation for some reason.

Media Voices: The Overtake editor Robyn Vinter on overcoming the biggest challenges in local news

On this week's episode of Media Voices, the founder and editor of The Overtake Robyn Vinter candidly takes us through the challenges and compromises involved in running a local news outlet. She discusses the importance of being independent, the strictures and sacrifices that comes from being a small news outlet, and why there needs to be variety and diversity of journalistic voices. In the news roundup, the team succumbs to the heat and discusses bad news around social media, whether journalists should be incentivised to chase clicks, and whether a Cosmopolitan x Tinder branded podcast is a model to be emulated. Peter and Chris perform their first single live on the podcast.

Media Voices: C&EN Media’s Bibiana Campos Seijo on making science content accessible

On this week's episode of Media Voices, we hear from Dr Bibiana Campos Seijo, VP of the Chemical and Engineering News Media Group at the American Chemical Society. We spoke about finding a broader audience for chemistry content, about covering subjects like the environment and diversity in a professional publication, and how to say "those men stole my shoes" in Spanish. In the news roundup the team exorcise a depressing week of news about the failure of journalists to cover some huge political issues by talking about whether Chrome 76 is a Trojan horse for Subscribe With Google, The Atlantic introducing a daily idea for smart speakers, and take a trip down memory lane as Twitch acquires Bebo.

Media Voices: Den of Geek Editor Rosie Fletcher on maintaining a positive space for pop culture fans

This week, Den of Geek's UK Editor Rosie Fletcher talks to us about the mainstreaming of geek culture, finding an angle for entertainment stories everyone is covering, and how to maintain a friendly online community. She also explains how they used a 'time travel expert' to get a fresh angle on the latest Marvel movie. In the news round up, Peter and Esther debate whether 'time travel expert' is even a job title, what the publisher deal is with new aggregator app 'Mogul News', and the findings of Reuters' Digital News Report 2019. They both try to work out what the Brexitcast podcast could look like as a TV show, and Peter learns more about Snapchat filters.

Media Voices: Google's Head of News Ecosystem Development Madhav Chinnappa on supporting journalism

On this week's episode of Media Voices, Google's Head of News Ecosystem Development Madhav Chinnappa takes us through his views on the often-fraught relationship between publishers and platforms, what lessons he's learned from the Google News Initiative, and what best practice looks like for subscriptions success. In the news roundup the team each share their own take on the state of micropayments for news, some job cuts at The Sun, and a weird tale about traffic at Mail Online. Chris sets Peter and Esther homework.

Media Voices: Chelsea Magazine Company digital director Paul Rayner on profitable operating models

This week, we hear from veteran of the magazine industry Paul Rayner about his career trajectory from Dennis to LadBible to the Chelsea Magazine company and the lessons he’s learned along the way. In the news roundup, the team tries and fails to discuss DMGT's latest results with a particular focus on Mail Online, whether Fortune going behind a paywall is the canary in the coalmine for other paywall plays, and whether the sale of Sports Illustrated to a non-publishing company tells us anything about the future of magazine brands. It's snark week this week on Media Voices.

Media Voices Conversations: Modelling Subscription Success

Direct reader revenue is back on top of publishers’ priorities, as re-igniting the relationship with an audience is seen as the single best guarantee of a sustainable media business model. At the same time, publishers’ strategies around subscriber acquisition and retention are maturing, and the sophistication of subscription tools is increasing enormously. There is a surfeit of choice of strategy for publishers looking to capitalise on increasing consumer propensity to pay, and while there are some standout successes in the subscription market it is still far from an easy process to convince consumers to pay. In this special Conversations episode of Media Voices, Chris is joined by Michael Silberman, SVP of Strategy at Piano, and Katie Vanneck Smith, co-founder of slow journalism outlet Tortoise. The trio discusses everything from how publishers and partners can model propensity to pay, the difference between membership and subscription strategies, and best practice around user data. This episode of Media Voices is sponsored by Piano, a platform dedicated to helping publishers develop and grow their direct reader revenue strategies. Piano believes there will always be a demand for words and scenes that make a difference, whether that’s through hard-hitting journalism or emotive articles that resonate with audiences, and is passionate about helping media businesses grow the revenue required to produce it. Find out more at piano.io.

Media Voices: WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson on lessons from a year behind a paywall

On this week's episode of Media Voices, WIRED's Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson talks about the brand's positioning as a tech magazine in a digital world, the impact of two huge Facebook features, lessons learned from WIRED's paywall a year on, and what his dream paywall would look like. In the news roundup the team discusses TI Media's sale of NME to a tech platform, Quartz's low-key paywall launch, and the dangers of churnalism come to light as the Daily Star offends Scotland. Esther doubts whether the last item counts as 'news'.

Media Voices: CEO of Associated Media Publishing Julia Raphaely on the mission of magazines

This week Julia Raphaely, CEO of Associated Media Publishing, takes us through how magazines can act as storefronts, the differences between the SA and UK magazine markets, why people are continuing to make time for print products, and the benefits of international collaboration between people who love magazines. In the news roundup the team discusses Byline's 'pivot to print', Disney taking a write-down on its investment in Vice, and belately discuss the Guardian breaking even.

Media Voices: 100th Episode Special

Our 100th episode special was recorded live in front of an audience in London on May 2nd. We were joined by four fantastic guests - EMPIRE’s Editor in Chief Terri White, The Week’s Chief Executive Kerin O’Connor, PinkNews’ Head of Platforms Ellen Stewart, and Bibblio’s founder Mads Holmen - to discuss whether publishers can maintain brand identity in a world of distributed content. Many thanks to Bibblio for helping to organise the event, to our media partner What's New In Publishing, and to the guests who turned out to celebrate with us!

Media Voices: Delayed Gratification co-founder Rob Orchard on the mission of 'slow journalism'

In this week's episode of Media Voices, Rob Orchard - the co-founder and editor of the original slow journalism magazine Delayed Gratification - takes us through the mission of the magazine, why giving news room to breathe is absolutely vital, and why more publishers are jumping on the bandwagon. In the news roundup we celebrate some subscription milestones for the FT and the Guardian, investigate the timings of AppleNews+'s launch and Facebook's mooted premium News tab, and ask if Stylist Group's move into lifestyle and fitness products is a class issue.

Media Voices: Readly MD Ranj Begley on what makes a magazine app a success

In this week's episode of Media Voices, Readly MD Ranj Begley takes us through how the magazine app approaches its publisher partnerships, how reader data informs everything from cover choice to exclusive content, and whether Ready sees Apple News+ as friend, foe, or frenemy. In the news roundup this week, the team discusses the launch of a new news subscription service from Apple, whether Google can or should fix the local news ecosystem, and try to figure out what's happening with The Correspondent's plans to launch an English language news outlet.

Media Voices: Spotify VP of EMEA Marco Bertozzi on Spotify's evolving ad business

This week's guest is Marco Bertozzi, who is the Vice President of EMEA Sales & Multi-Market Global Sales at Spotify. He spoke to us about how Spotify’s ad business has evolved from the early days, why the company believes strongly in the future of podcasting, and what the audience’s relationship is like with advertising in audio. He also explains why they’ve just launched a #Loveads campaign. In the news roundup the team discusses the BBC's latest plans to save local democracy, the NYT's comments about Apple's latest foray into news, and asks if MySpace deleting every upload prior to 2016 is the future of social media. Plus, cupcakes!

Media Voices: BBC Producer Dr Chadden Hunter on using media to raise global awareness

On this week's episode we talk to Dr Chadden Hunter, who is a Director and Producer at the BBC Natural History Unit, and has worked on blockbuster nature programmes like Planet Earth II, Frozen Planet and Wild Arabia. He discusses how he balances the desire to highlight conservation issues with the need to produce an entertaining series, the role new media can play in reaching global audiences, and what it's like working with David Attenborough on the storytelling side. He also tells us why he has hope in the younger generation and their climate change activism. In the news roundup the team discusses the misbehaviour of the press and platforms in the wake of terrorism, why Twitter's podcast indicates its changing priorities, and make predictions about Apple's next moves.

Media Voices: Nikki Simpson on ambitious plans to open an International Magazine Centre in Edinburgh

On this week’s episode of Media Voices, former PPA Scotland business manager Nikki Simpson introduces plans to launch The International Magazine Centre, a hub for publishers to promote magazine innovation and celebrate the industry’s past. In the news round-up, the team decide whether Buzzfeed's print edition is more than a marketing stunt, how serious Zuckerberg's 'pivot to privacy' is, and how Readly has come to claim the 'Spotify of magazines' title. Esther and Chris are outraged at a crass new launch from Bauer.

Media Voices: Trump Inc. Senior Producer Meg Cramer on the opportunities of a political podcast

On this week's episode of Media Voices, Meg Cramer, Senior Producer of Trump Inc., takes us through why a collaborative team took on what might be a coast-to-coast crime scene, why a podcast can ask questions while an article must provide answers, and why great journalism transcends mediums. In the news roundup, the team discuss the BBC and ITV's Netflix competitor Britbox, whether Jeremy Corbyn is Trumpian in his approach to the media, and why Medium and Twitter's partnership could be great for the consumer. The team launches their new feature, Cryptocurrency Conspiracy Corner.