Platformer’s Casey Newton on surviving the great media collapse and what comes next
Feb 5, 2024
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Casey Newton, founder of the Platformer newsletter and former editor at The Verge, discusses the turmoil in the media industry and the rise of independent newsletters. He shares insights on leaving Substack due to content moderation issues, highlighting the challenges of managing a small media team amidst financial pressures. The conversation dives into the complexities of audience engagement and the need for innovative models in journalism. With humor and candor, Casey explores the future of media in a rapidly changing landscape, stressing the importance of quality content over sensationalism.
The transition from Substack to Ghost was driven by concerns over moderation policies and the desire for a more affordable platform.
The success of a newsletter depends on providing unique and valuable information that subscribers are willing to pay for.
The future of media lies in sustainable business models, independent publications, and innovative approaches to rebuild a healthy media ecosystem.
Deep dives
Platformer's Journey: From Substack to Ghost
Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer, shares the story of his transition from Substack to Ghost. He highlights the key factors that influenced his decision, including concerns about Substack's moderation policies and the desire for a more affordable platform. Newton also discusses the benefits of Ghost, such as its non-profit status, open-source software, and its commitment to preventing the use of its platform by Nazis. He acknowledges the risks and trade-offs involved in the decision, but ultimately feels that Ghost provides a better home for his newsletter.
The Challenges of Starting and Scaling a Newsletter Business
Newton reflects on the challenges he faced when starting his newsletter platformer, such as the need to generate scoops and the risk of subscriber churn. He also discusses the importance of breaking news in the newsletter business, emphasizing that subscribers are more likely to pay for newsletters that provide unique and valuable information. Newton explores the balance between focusing on reporting and writing versus managing a growing business, and how finding the right team and structure is crucial. He notes that scaling up to a larger media company would require careful consideration of roles and responsibilities.
The Rise and Fall of Substack
Newton describes his experience with Substack and its ideological positioning, particularly with regards to moderation and controversial content on the platform. He highlights the challenges Substack faced when trying to be both an infrastructure provider and an editorial brand. Newton's decision to leave Substack was informed by the platform's handling of moderation issues and its ideological motivations. He discusses the impact of Substack's network in growing free subscribers, but also shares his analysis that the network's value for paid conversion was limited.
The Future of Media: Building Sustainable Business Models
Newton contemplates the future of media and the challenges it faces. He discusses the importance of sustainable business models for journalism and the need to break away from reliance on venture-backed platforms. Newton expresses optimism for collectives and independent publications that can provide a broader press corps, highlighting the success of organizations like Defector and 404 Media. He acknowledges that while his own model may not be scalable for all types of journalism, diverse and innovative approaches can help rebuild a healthy media ecosystem.
Media industry challenges and the importance of targeted publications
The podcast episode discusses the challenges facing the media industry, particularly in terms of monetization and distributing content. The hosts emphasize the importance of targeted publications, such as trade publications, which have been successful in providing valuable information to their specific audiences. They discuss the potential tension between targeted publications and broader news audience, highlighting the difficulty of monetizing news on a larger scale. The podcast also acknowledges the rise of free content on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, which poses a challenge to the traditional media industry.
The need for new media models and involvement of protocols
In this segment, the hosts discuss the need for new media models and solutions to the challenges faced by the industry. They mention the importance of email as a stable distribution channel and highlight the potential of open protocols like activity pub and AT protocol. These protocols, if successful, could provide more control to users and enable them to build authentic relationships with publishers. The hosts also mention the significance of public funding for media, citing examples of countries with strong democracies that invest in public media. They express concerns about deepfakes and generative AI, urging platforms to address the issue while acknowledging the potential harm that could be caused during a contentious election year.
Today, I’m talking with Casey Newton, the founder and editor of the Platformer newsletter and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast. Casey is also a former editor here at The Verge and was my co-host at the Code Conference last year. Most importantly, Casey and I are also very close friends, so this episode is a little looser than usual.
I wanted to talk to Casey for a few reasons. One, the media industry overall is falling apart, with huge layoffs at almost every media organization you can think of happening weekly, but small newsletters seem to be a bright spot. So I wanted to talk about how Platformer started, how Casey got it to where it is, and how much farther he thinks it can go. And then, I wanted to talk about Substack. It’s the newsletter platform Paltformer used to call its home, but content moderation problems — including its decision to allow Nazis to monetize on the platform — have pushed away a number of its customers, including Platformer.
This episode goes deep, but it’s fun — Casey is just one of my favorite people, and he is not shy about saying what he thinks.
