While podcasting has been around since the mid-aughts, it’s only within the last half decade that the industry started generating significant revenue, finally crossing $1 billion in 2021. And until recently, there were very few journalists who were solely dedicated to writing about podcasts. That’s a big part of the reason that in 2017 James Cridland decided to launch Podnews, a B2B newsletter that covers the industry.   A longtime radio veteran who once worked for the BBC, James realized that there was a major need for a daily news digest of all the various startups and media outlets that were operating in the space. And as his readership grew, he found that there were plenty of companies that were willing to pay to reach his hyper-niche audience.   In my interview with James, we talked about his approach to compiling his newsletter, his monetization strategy, and why he insists on coding most of his tools from scratch.

If you read articles about the state of local news, you’ll come away with a pretty pessimistic view of the industry. But while legacy newspapers have certainly faced a steep decline, there’s a burgeoning explosion of local media startups that are innovating in the space.    One such company is Overstory Media. What started as a single local newsletter operating in Victoria has since expanded into 14 separate verticals operating all across Canada. In a recent interview, I spoke to CEO Farhan Mohamed about why he got into local news, his company’s acquisition strategy, and why he’s optimistic about the state of local news.

B2B used to be the least sexy space in media, but in the last decade we’ve seen a new crop of B2B media companies that are proving to be far more innovative than their B2C peers. Recently, I convened a panel of experts to talk about all the various aspects of B2B media — including running events, launching paid subscriptions, finding sponsors, and building out niche editorial products.   What you’re about to listen to is a recording of a live Zoom call I had with my newsletter’s paid subscribers. I host these calls at least twice a month, and for each one I recruit some of the world’s foremost experts in media and content. If you want access to these calls, then you need to become a paid subscriber to my newsletter. Go to simonowens.substack.com. That’s simonowens.substack.com.

Visit https://memberful.com/simonowens Matt Brown didn’t set off to build his own solo newsletter business, but he fell into it after taking a buyout at Vox Media sports site SB Nation during the height of the pandemic – a period when very few media companies were hiring.   While his SB Nation beat covered all of college sports, Matt decided to niche down with his own newsletter – which was called Extra Points – to focus specifically on the business side of college athletics. This gave him the edge he needed to find a loyal audience, and he quickly scaled it up to thousands of readers.   In my interview with Matt, we talked about why he left Vox Media, how he monetized his newsletter, and what made him want to sell it to a larger media company.

Visit Memberful: http://memberful.com/simonowens   When the media outlet Roca News launched in the year 2020, it started creating just about every kind of content you can imagine. There was a newsletter, a podcast, and accounts on every single social media platform.   But this everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach didn’t seem to work, so the founders decided to focus mostly on a single platform: Instagram. Over the next two years, they leveraged Instagram’s visual storytelling features to deliver a digestible form of news to its young followers. This singular focus allowed it to grow to over 1.1 million followers.   Then, starting in 2022, it branched out into other mediums. It reinvested in its daily newsletter and also launched a TikTok account where it publishes more humorous, entertainment focused content. It also started building a dedicated mobile app, which it’s launching soon.   In this episode, I interviewed co-founder Max Towey about the Roca News origin story, its Instagram growth, and how it’s begun monetizing its content.

My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/   You’ve probably noticed that true crime is having a bit of a moment right now. Podcasts dedicated to the genre dominate the charts, and every week there’s a new hit series on one of the major TV streaming services.   Jim Brown approached true crime from a different direction.  Rather than launching a show, he used his tech and product skills to build a database of cold cases. Think of it as a kind of Wikipedia for unsolved crimes.    He then created ways for users to submit updates and participate in the discussion around these cases. The site, which is called Uncovered, now attracts tens of thousands of monthly visitors and recently played a key role in solving a cold case.   I spoke to Jim about building the site, how it attracted its initial visitors, and its monetization strategies.

Visit https://signup.whosponsorsstuff.com/sales-pro/?source=simonowenspodcast   Louie Woodall knows his way around a financial disclosure document. Since graduating college, he’s worked for several media outlets that report on the intricacies of financial risk. In 2020, he decided to combine this expertise with his interest in climate change and launched Climate Risk Review, a Substack newsletter that analyzed climate disclosure documents published by major corporations around the world.   The newsletter was a side hustle, but it eventually amassed an influential readership of bankers and other finance professionals, many of whom converted into paying subscribers. Eventually, Louie realized he needed to make a decision: should he continue it as a side hustle or try to make it his fulltime job?   He decided on the latter option, and to help ease that transition he found a company that would not only acquire the newsletter, but also employ him to be its full time editor. In our interview, we talked about the newsletter’s origin story, his monetization strategy, and how the publication will evolve under the umbrella of a larger company.

Visit Memberful: https://memberful.com/simonowens   The podcast industry is around 17 years old, and Libsyn was among the first companies launched to service that industry. For most of that time, it focused on paid podcast hosting, but in recent years it’s acquired companies that specialize in podcast advertising and subscriptions.   Libsyn needs that more diverse product offering if it wants to compete with rising podcast behemoths like Spotify and SiriusXM. I recently sat down with Dave Hanley, who helps run its advertising operations. He told me the story behind Libsyn’s acquisition of his podcast advertising platform and the company’s strategy for recruiting the next generation of hit podcasts.

Check out the News Guest podcast: https://bit.ly/news-guest   When Boye Fajinmi started hosting parties with a few of his friends, he had no idea that it would become a sprawling events and media company. They were just looking for a fun way to network with other creative workers like themselves. At the time, Boye worked at Paramount Pictures and was pursuing a traditional Hollywood career, but the success of those early parties led him to believe that he could build something of his own.   Flash forward a decade, and The Future Party – which is what the company came to be called – now hosts dozens of events a year and works with some of the largest luxury brands in the world. It also publishes a daily newsletter that reaches 150,000 people.    Boye and I sat down to discuss The Future Party’s origin story, its monetization strategy, and why they decided to expand beyond events into media.

Get a 10% discount on a subscription: https://simonowens.substack.com/a30836c1   It’s incredibly difficult to convert your audience from free readers/viewers/listeners into paying subscribers. In this meeting, we’re going to discuss all of the optimization strategies that increase conversion and reduce churn.