Podcasts driving revenue for slow-news startup Tortoise PLUS How to engage with platforms: Know your vision that drives your products

October 10, 2022

Kicking off the week, we have a piece from slow-news start-up Tortoise on the success of their pivot to audio. (Transparency notice: Tortoise is a Pugpig client.) Read and on and click through to the article to find out how they got their audio offering in the black in less than a year. It's some smart product thinking grounded in the knowledge of their audience.

We also have an interesting sceptical, but actionable take on how to play with platforms by David Cohn for Poynter. There are a couple of data points that hint at a coming slowdown in subscriptions. And there is a podcast from journalism.co.uk with the managing director of FT Strategies on how to get organisational alignment for your long-term goals.

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

Tortoise found that their younger audience wanted to listen to the news rather than read it so they have been engaged in an ongoing pivot to audio. In addition to the product thinking grounded in knowledge of their audience, this is also worth reading because sponsorship isn't the only revenue stream that has allowed them to leverage audio to become profitable in only 12 months.

Cost-of-living crisis hits digital magazine subscriptions All-you-can-read digital magazine platform Readly is experiencing a slowdown in subscriptions as shoppers scale back their spending during the cost-of-living crisis. There are some interesting observations included in the piece from our friend Jim Bilton of Wessenden Briefing, but I’m cautious about extrapolating Readly’s figures to apply it to …

What's New in Publishing's media roundup kicks off with a question on whether Readly's decline in subs is indicative of a larger downturn in the subscription business. They take a nuanced view. I would agree that publishers have an interest in encouraging subscribers to shift to digital subs versus print subs due to the rising costs of paper, ink and delivery.

Online media company, which has seen its share price slump, blames economy for job losses

...but here is another sign that the economic conditions might be biting into publishers' bottom line.

As news organisations pivot to a digital-first model, we look at what we can learn from other sectors that thrive online

A good podcast with the MD of the FT's new strategy group, which is selling consulting based on its own experiences with digital content products and digital transformation. She goes on to talk about examples of how companies have achieved alignment on long-term goals. As she points out, there plenty of examples of how to do this from other industries. It's a podcast that is worth your time.

Numerous news start-ups have raced to fill a void of statehouse coverage. Pluribus News is planning to report on the policy trends making their way from one legislature to the next.

I'm always curious to see what new content strategies are being tried. This is interesting because instead of covering statehouses on a state-by-state basis, they are covering policy trends. I think if you marry this with a data offering that there are some interesting opportunities there.

While large publishers can better roll with the changes, there are ways for local organizations to find an advantage.

David Cohn offers up a sceptical but by no means isolated view of platforms. As he points out, platforms - particularly Meta's platforms - have promised publishers reach but then clamped down on organic reach.

The most important point that he makes is that publishers need to have their own vision and then consider which platforms to engage with and how. Having that strategic vision in the first place is key, and that will drive your product roadmap and help set priorities.

Looking to prove the value of SEO? Put math behind your budget asks by measuring the traffic potential for an SEO investment.

With so many things fighting for publishers' limited resources and attention, one of the key choices is what to prioritise. In this piece from Search Engine Land, they start to try to

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

Canada is considering legislation similar to that in Australia that looks to force digital players to pay for news content that is linked to or shared on their platforms. Now, a parliamentary report has put a price tag on what it might cost those platforms.

Social Media Today

Meta telegraphs its priorities for creators and by extension its apps and services. Although, anyone who has used Facebook or Instagram, won't be surprised by this.