The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.