Navigating Audience Expectations and Advertising Partnerships

Louise Story, CEO of Atlas Obscura and veteran of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, joins me to talk about steering a beloved travel brand into its next chapter. We discuss her decision to wind down the in-house experiences business, why brand partnerships — especially with tourism bureaus — are now the company’s core revenue stream, and how she plans to turn Atlas Obscura’s community into the foundation for a robust travel-planning app. Louise also shares how her product background shapes her approach and why building direct audience relationships is critical in an era of search decline and AI disruption.