The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

Like the Wind magazine's Simon Freeman on 'niche-ification' and sustainable indie magazine publishing

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Simon Freeman, Publisher at Like the Wind, a quarterly print magazine dedicated to exploring the culture, history and social issues in the world of running. They are also a blueprint for sustainable indie magazine publishing.

Simon spoke to Peter as part of the research and writing for Inside the Print Revival, our report on why print magazines are making headlines again.

In this episode, Simon talks about 'niche-ification'; how it's okay that not every runner is a potential Like the Wind reader, how social media helps sell magazines as a marketing tool, but also as a catalyst for readers returning to analogue media. 

Download our free report exploring the print revival here.

What makes video work for magazine publishers?

From conceptualization to execution, Crowdfindervideo's Simon Elliott shares his expertise on what makes video work for magazine publishers, providing valuable insights and practical tips for industry professionals.

In this video podcast, recorded live at the Publisher Podcast Summit, Peter Houston and Simon Elliott discuss the significant benefits of video podcasting for publishers, emphasising its role in audience growth and revenue generation.

They explore the importance of building a structured video production process, the necessity of effective storytelling, and the challenges faced during the 'pivot to video'.

Practical tips for starting a video podcast, editing content and enhancing viewer engagement are also shared, along with insights on how to present oneself confidently on camera.

Watch the video podcast here.

This video podcast episode was produced in partnership with Crowdfindervideo. You want the audience growth and engagement that come with video and audio but don’t have the hours in the day? Crowdfindervideo clients make the decisions on their content but we do the production work. We deliver the audio, video and social assets that turn your ideas into a consistent, multi-platform presence. We'll also do the thumbnails and show notes. We can even upload for clients.

Immediate Media's Sean Cornwell on investing in AI experimentation, innovation and upskilling

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Sean Cornwell, CEO of Immediate Media. Sean will be speaking to Colin Morrison at our November AI Forum in London, discussing what AI means to Immediate. There are still tickets left but we're anticipating selling out, so head here to book and for more info on speakers and Masterclasses.

Immediate is something of a ray of hope amidst all the AI gloom. Over the last few years, the business - led by Sean - has looked really hard for ways to make AI work to its advantage.

Sean and Peter talk about optimism and how important it is to focus on the things you can control, the role of real human beings in content creations, and how to bring those humans along on the AI journey. Peter asks (of course) where print fits into all this.

Sean is speaking at The Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information & Events on Tuesday 25th November. It's a one-day event from Flashes & Flames and MediaVoices explaining, discussing and projecting the impact of AI on content creation, discoverability, marketing and management in news media, lifestyle, business information and events companies.

The PPA's Mel McVeigh on the evolution of publisher products in a fragmented ecosystem

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Mel McVeigh, Head of Digital at the Professional Publisher's Association (PPA). Mel has been at the PPA for the last 18 months, and her role is to support digital thinking within the organisation and its members.

Mel recently worked with Enders Analysis on a report - Consumers, creators, and brands: Rewriting the media playbook. The report aims to help publishers with their plans around technology investments, as well as provoke and challenge them to think about how they're going to innovate in the long-term.

Peter and Mel talk about the challenges technology brings and whether the website is really dying, but also the reasons to be cheerful, like the sustained trust enjoyed by magazine brands. She talks about platforms, processes, and product thinking, as well as the importance of editorial intuition.

Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

People Inc.'s Neil Vogel on positioning for success in a complicated AI era

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, People Inc. CEO Neil Vogel talks about the power of print - as long as you're not sentimental about scale - how advertising is very much alive, and why Google is 'the worst guy' when it comes to publishers and AI. He also discusses the rebranding from Dotdash Meredith and why it's important to have a name which resonates with human experiences.

This episode is produced in partnership with FIPP, who are 100 years old this year. With only 25 tickets remaining, this is the final opportunity to secure your place at the FIPP World Media Congress 2025 – the premier global event bringing together the foremost leaders, innovators, and strategists from across the international media landscape.

Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

Flow Magazine's Irene Smit on her 'paper, not print' philosophy

In this episode, Peter Houston interviews Irene Smit, the co-founder of Flow Magazine. As you’ll see from this episode’s title Irene’s founding philosophy for the mag was that of paper over print. What’s the distinction? Well, for Irene print is effectively a vector for information – it’s commodity news, or glossy lifestyle features, or whathaveyou. It is 99% of what’s on newsstands. By contrast paper is an experience, and she tells Peter about what drove her to mix and match types of paper within the same magazine.

She also tells us about how the magazine changed hands between publishing companies, what that taught her about the pros and cons of being an indie title supported by a larger operation, and how the magazine came out of the other side of those transitions stronger for it.

Irene will be speaking at Magazine Street in a few weeks time on 3rd October. If you want to be there, use the code MV75 for £75 off tickets, which you can book at internationalmagazinecentre.com.

Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

The Publisher Summits: Why Reach turned to Substack for newsletter expansion and experimentation

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher Newsletter Summit where Reach plc’s Audience and Content Director Jenna Thompson discussed why they looked to Substack for new newsletter launches, and what they’ve learned over the past two years of free and paid experiments.

Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

 

The Publisher Summits: How The Economist and Financial Times manage personality-driven newsletters

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher Newsletter Summit where The Economist’s Andrew Palmer and Dominic Rech and the Financial Times’ Sarah Ebner joined Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobitt to discuss personality-powered newsletters – the good and the bad.

Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

 

The Publisher Summits: How Hearst UK and Stylist use app extra features to enhance reader relationships

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher App Summit - Pugpig, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their apps to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher App Summit where Hearst UK’s Emma Peagam and Stylist’s Felicity Thistlethwaite joined Esther Thorpe on stage to talk about how games and added extras help enhance relationships with their subscribers, and boost those all-important retention rates.

The Publisher Summits: Pop-up and limited-run newsletter strategies from The Times and National World

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features two sessions from the Publisher Newsletter Summit exploring pop-up and limited run newsletters.

Publishers are seeing success with pop-up and limited run newsletters, from educational courses to sporting events and elections. But what happens to subscribers to a pop-up newsletter after the newsletter has run its course?

Katie Binns, Deputy editor at Times Money Mentor, a free personal finance section of the Times brand, explains in the first session how they nurture subscribers to two of their hugely successful pop-up newsletters, Couch to £5k and Pension Power Up, after the series has ended.

The next session is from Neil Macdonald, Head of Newsletters at National World. In January, National World brand The Scotsman launched Scottish Golf Courses You Must Play, their first ever paid, limited-edition series newsletter. Neil shares the learnings from putting together and launching an evergreen newsletter series, and how it’s going six months in.

Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

The Publisher Summits: Why the FT’s app is its most powerful retention tool

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher App Summit - Pugpig, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their apps to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features a session with Muj Ali, Group Product Manager of Acquisition, Retention and Apps at the Financial Times. He talks about where the app fits in at the FT in terms of the subscriber funnel, how they’ve adapted what they publish to people’s mobile browsing habits, and why the app is increasingly proving itself to be one of the FT’s most vital retention tools.

The Publisher Summits: How the Observer marries its audio and app strategies for audience retention

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Podcast and App Summits - Crowdfindervideo, Pugpig, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their magazines and newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode features insight from Aleena Augustine, who is Audience Growth Manager at The Observer. Now this is a bit special as The Observer brand was acquired by Tortoise Media in April of this year, so there was an awful lot to talk about there. Aleena spoke specifically about how the team is combining podcasts and apps for a powerful subscriber proposition – and what comes next for native audio within its app.

Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

Inside the print revival: Publishers find success with premium magazines

This special episode of The Publisher Podcast is an audio teaser for our Inside the Print Revival report, published by Media Voices. If you haven't already got the report, you can download it from voices.media/printrevival.

We at Media Voices had been wondering for some time about what is really going on in the print magazine market as we watched the number of stories shared about print launches and relaunches grow from a trickle to, if not quite a tidal wave, a fairly fast-flowing stream.

Talk of a print comeback has been increasingly common in the magazine market. But at the same time, news about magazine circulations dropping, print operations being scaled back and regular closures have continued.

With these two seemingly contradictory narratives competing for our attention, we decided to try and find out what is really going on.

Inside the Print Revival is made possible with the support of our sponsors: Freeport Press, Warners Media Group, Atex, FIPP, Piano, and Manson Group.

The Publisher Summits: Newsletter marketing strategies from Metro.co.uk and The Spectator

This is the first of a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more.

Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter and Print Summit - Passendo, Piano, Warners Group Publications, FIPP, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their magazines and newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com.

This episode brings together two sessions from the Publisher Newsletter Summit stage looking at newsletter marketing and discovery.

The first talk is from Sophie Laughton, Newsletter Editor at Metro.co.uk, sharing how a site redesign helped their team drive newsletter sign-ups, and what other publishers can learn.

Then you’ll hear from Hannah Tomes at the Spectator, interviewed on-stage by Esther Thorpe, discussing which marketing and growth strategies have and haven’t worked for them.

Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

 

Highlights from Flashes & Flames' Monetising B2B Information & Events conference

It was standing room only at the inaugural Monetising B2B conference, organised by Flashes & Flames, at London's historic Stationers' Hall on 20th May. Peter and Esther went along to fly the flag for Media Voices.

The conference was focused not on the difference between pureplay events and information companies, but on the data-fuelled intersection and growth potential between them. The breadth and depth of the day's content echoed the mission of Flashes & Flames and of the change underway in B2B companies in the era of AI and revenue diversification.

Although there were a wide range of topics discussed during the day, this episode brings out highlights from three hot-topic areas: 

• AI's profit potential: How B2B's application of AI is moving to commercial reality;
• Data with purpose: Why proprietary data can define the future of B2B;
• Events re-imagined: From trade shows to festivalisation - why the future of events belongs to those who curate memorable (and valuable) experiences.

For the full event report, see Flashes & Flames.

Media Briefs: Bridged Media's Maanas Mediratta on why ROI is increasingly important in AI

For publishers, the conversation around AI has moved on from how to incorporate it into the business. Now, 'Fear of missing out' has been replaced by 'Fear of not being able to measure'.

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 again from Bridged Media CEO Maanas Mediratta. Last time we spoke about how Bridged Media was making AI tools more accessible to a broader range of publishers. This time, our conversation was focused on how publisher conversations around AI have moved on, and why measuring ROI is becoming a key part of the discourse.

It can be challenging to visualise "Operationalising AI" and what that means for your organisation in terms of people, process and tech. Bridged Media is currently running a survey to help establish an industry benchmark on how to future proof your business using AI enabled tech.

Take the survey to help find out if your newsroom is AI ready. 

Building recurring revenue and audience connections: in conversation with Memberful's Jen Matichuk

In this bonus episode of The Publisher Podcast, sponsored by Memberful, we hear from Jen Matichuk, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Memberful.

Jen spoke about how membership is a powerful way to diversify revenue, whether you need to introduce membership tiers (spoiler: you don't), and how to deliver value that converts.

She also explores the value of community, and why evolution and iteration are key for retention.

This episode 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, and podcast episodes.

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

Immediate Media’s Alex White on giving staff the space to innovate

On this week’s episode of The Publisher podcast we hear from Alex White, Group Managing Director for Immediate Media’s Knowledge portfolio which includes BBC Gardeners' World, BBC History and Immediate’s parenting business, MadeForMums.

We spoke about the benefits that come from the company’s focus on publishing verticals, how the magazine publisher is bringing a culture of innovation into the business by giving staff the space to innovate and how she believes encouraging an ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ is crucial to compete.

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, and podcast episodes.

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

Deutsche Welle's Sam Baker on solving the problem of podcast promotion

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast we hear from Sam Baker, Senior Producer of Deutsche Welle's award-winning podcast Don't Drink The Milk. She takes us through the appeal of documentary and narrative podcasts, how the team is experimenting with video and AI, and how overlapping interests allows DW to find new audiences for its audio.

And, of course, we discuss where the title 'Don't Drink The Milk' originates from. It's a fascinating story - and one that succinctly explains the appeal of culture podcasts, and why audio is a wonderful medium for explaining history.

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.

Bloomberg's Marissa Zanetti-Crume on strategy for audience-first news products

On this week’s episode of The Publisher Podcast we hear from Marissa Zanetti-Crume,  Bloomberg Media’s Global Head of Product. Marissa talks about how her product team are collaborators, integrating content, technology, and commercial considerations.

We also spoke about Bloomberg Media’s newsletter strategy and how its 70-strong newsletter portfolio is a mix of subscriber exclusives and free newsletters positioned to deliver both revenue and reach. Marissa explains how the introduction of a live audio Q&A has given Bloomberg journalists the opportunity to engage directly with their 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 lets you offer membership perks and exclusive content to your loyal audience, giving you full control over who has access to your articles, newsletters, and podcast episodes.

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