The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

This week Zach Seward, CEO of Quartz, explains why he bought the business lifestyle brand from Uzabase. He tells us how it all started and how it’s going, about memberships and advertising, and the Quartz mission to make business better. In the news roundup Peter and Chris discuss the opportunities for The New European after its purchase by a consortium of the best and brightest in the media busin...

This week Dr Samir Husni, founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media, tells us why magazines are the ultimate new media. He explains the wild ride that was magazine publishing in 2020, his print evangelism, the benefits that digital brings and his favourite magazine. Oh, and why he's called 'Mr. Magazine'. In the new...

This week we hear from Yahoo Lifestyle's Editor in Chief for Southeast Asia Reta Lee. We talked about her career in media and her work at Yahoo Lifestyle, including spinning up new content pillars and identifying new trends. She also discusses the opportunity for eCommerce in Asia, collaborating with teams in the US and UK, and what opportunities she's got her eye on over the next few years. In th...

Last year, the team at Pugpig decided to take a step back from their day-to-day development work and get a sense of what was going on in the wider digital publishing market. Analysing data from their publishing clients and interviewing 40 senior executives, they created the company’s first annual State of the Digital Publishing Market report. As the platform provider for over 300 media brands - fr...

This week Ian McAuliffe, founder and CEO of Think Publishing, talks about the evolving landscape of contract publishing. He tells us about the ideal employee or a contract publisher, the ideal client and how the pandemic has accelerated digital adoption amongst traditionally conservative clients, but still not killed off print. In the news roundup, we discuss Axios launching its own communications...

This week Sara Fischer, Media Reporter at Axios, tells us about her process for crafting a thoughtful, informative newsletter, whether Axios’ ‘smart brevity’ model can work for local news, and what lessons she’s taken from covering media companies that she applies to her own work. In the news roundup the team discuss the fallout for publishers from Trump's ban from social media, and the trends tha...

As well as its flagship paper, The Economist also publishes future-gazing issues looking at what to expect the next year and even further into the future. This week Tom Standage, its Deputy Editor and Head of Digital Strategy tells us about the reason why it believes doing so is central its mission, what needs to happen to prevent journalists revisiting familiar mistakes in the near future, and wh...

This special episode includes the audio of our launch presentation for the Media Moments 2020 report. Esther, Peter and Chris examine one key stat of each section within the report, from diversity through platforms to trust. In the second half of the episode the team is joined by a panel of Jemima Villanueva, Executive Director, EMEA at The Atlantic, Aly Nurmohamed, General Manager of Permutive an...

A few weeks ago, Hearst UK announced that women's lifestyle magazine Prima would increase its print edition from 12 to 13 issues a year, following a 68% surge in subscriptions this year. This week, we talk to Prima's Editor Jo Checkley about what factors led to the decision to increase the frequency of the magazine, how their content has encouraged a community feel among their readers, and what le...

This week we hear from Scott Omelianuk, Inc.'s Editor in Chief. He talks about how starting his new job just before lockdown affected Inc.'s plans for change, how their content strategy has shifted in response to a momentous year in politics, and the thinking behind their new texting subscription service. He also explains why media businesses need a process before trying new platforms. In the news...

This week Gary Rayneau, co-founder of Project 23 tells us about about his time leading a diverse team at Dennis, the impact of Black Lives Matter in 2020, and how publishers can approach diversity and inclusion in the right way. In the news roundup we discuss Quartz's sale to itself, Spotify purchasing Megaphone, and BuzzFeed launching its sexual wellness vertical.

Over the past two years publishers have rightly been shouting about the power of their first party data. Understandably, that’s led to many becoming protective of the data that underpins this rediscovered strength - but rather than building up walls, many are doubling down on collaboration within the industry. Rather than simply hoarding that data, publishers are looking for ways to work with mark...

This week, we hear from Uwern Jong, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of OutThere magazine. He talks to us about the luxury LBGTQ travel brand's journey over the past decade, including how he's grown print readership, and how the pandemic has impacted travel content. He also discusses how he went about revamping the site's digital strategy, and what results he's seen. In the news roundup the team discus...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards News & Current Affairs category was the Week Unwrapped from Dennis Publishing. Former editor Arion McNicoll says there’s a small but critical difference between an OK podcast and a good podcast. Start with a worthwhile listener experience, then work on revenue and, if you bring real editorial rigour to your sponsored episodes, you might miss out on s...

This week, we hear from Erica Anderson, Executive Producer of Content and Partnerships at New York Magazine and Vox Media. She talks about what she took from her time working at Google and Twitter, what goes into developing outstanding podcasts, and what Vox Media is doing to prepare for changes in the podcast industry. In the news roundup the team discuss how easily segments of the British press...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards Branded category was the Bestseller podcast from Reedsy. Podcast host Casimir Stone says editing takes time, but crafting a podcast episode around a narrative allows you to deliver a different kind of value than a straight interview and differentiation matters; make sure you know why you are making a podcast and how it’s going to be different from wh...

This week Rory Brown, co-founder and CEO of AgriBriefing, speaks about building a niche B2B business, the issues with finance in media, Agribriefing's acquisition strategy, and keeping an entrepreneurial spirit alive as a larger company. In the news roundup the team takes a look at the welcome trend of new climate change verticals, have a discussion about the death of Quibi, and Time's new childre...

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of high-profile examples of journalists leaving publications to launch their own newsletters. This isn't a new trend, but as tools like Substack, Medium and Patreon have grown in prominence, the barriers to making a living off working by yourself have come down. In this special podumentary episode, we talk to journalists at a range of stages, from...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards Science and Medical category was the Nature Podcast from Springer Nature. Podcast host Benjamin Thomson says put storytelling at the heart of your podcast. Journalists best support commercial objectives by making really interesting podcasts and if you find one story dominating your podcast regularly, consider a dedicated spin off.

This week, we hear from Casey Newton, founder of Platformer. He was previously The Verge's long-time Silicon Valley editor, where his newsletter The Interface grew to 20,000 subscribers. Now, he's gone solo with his own Substack newsletter Platformer. He talks to us about what made him decide to take the plunge, how his first week at his new newsletter Platformer has gone, and what a Platformer po...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards Sports category was The Spin from the Guardian. Podcast producer Geoff Gein says editing is an essential part of the podcasting process, don’t underestimate how much time it takes. And although podcasting is not rocket science, get expert advice to help you build out infrastructure and fix formats quickly.

This week, we hear from Anna Bassi, Editor in Chief of The Week Junior. They’ve had a milestone couple of months, recently releasing their 250th issue and increasing circulation during lockdown by 22% year on year. She talks about why a print magazine for children is doing so well in 2020, how they approach really difficult topics like protests and pandemics, and how their podcast is doing a year...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards Lifestyle category was the Olive Magazine Podcast from Immediate Media. Deputy Editor and podcast host Janine Ratcliffe says your podcast doesn’t need to be super slick, but it does need to be a pleasant listening experience, care about commercial content every bit as much as you care about your regular episodes and the best publisher podcasts develo...

This week we hear from Director of Cognitive Publishing Roy Rowlands on what it’s like to be in a family publishing business with a trillion-pound audience, going all-digital with their B2B titles, and the benefits of being in Manchester. He also outlines how they've adapted in lockdown, including the reasons behind their decision not to go virtual with events. In the news roundup the team examine...

The winner of the 2020 Publisher Podcast Awards Specialist podcast category was History Extra from the BBC’s History Magazine, published by Immediate Media. Publisher and podcast host Dave Musgrove says publishers new to podcasting should choose a format that they will be able to deliver on a regular basis. The key to success is to commit and give a podcast the time to grow and find its unique voi...