Can Crooked Media thrive in a post-Trump world?
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Digiday: Even with expansion into other categories, Crooked plans to keep things political
Crooked Media is definitely a company I'll be watching closely over the next few years. Its founding correlated almost perfectly with the rise of Trumpism, and we're now going to see whether it can continue to thrive in a post-Trump world.
I think the fact that Crooked never took on venture money will actually help it in its expansion beyond politics, since it’ll need to be strategic in how it funds new shows. One of the problems that venture-funded startups like theSkimm face is that they often waste enormous amounts of times and resources moving into content verticals they have no aptitude for.
I think it also helps Crooked that we’re still really only at the beginning of the podcast audience and advertising boom.
FYI, I wrote a deep dive into Crooked Media’s business model and explained why it proved to be much more successful than Air America.
My latest: How Per Grankvist built an explanatory journalism startup in Sweden
Per Grankvist had the kind of media career most journalists only dream of. He was a high-profile columnist for a leading newspaper and a regular face on one of Sweden’s top broadcast networks. And yet he left all that behind him to grow a media startup from scratch.
CNN: Why your favorite magazines are morphing into books
Magazines have dealt with the decline in print advertising in an interesting way, in that they're more and more adopting the economics and business models of book publishing.
My average work week
In my average work week, I’ll record, edit, and transcribe a new podcast episode. I’ll research and write a new longform article. I’ll publish up to three creator spotlights. I’ll curate dozens of industry-related articles and then compile them in at least two newsletters like the one you’re reading now. I’ll write a new case study article for paying subscribers.
To accomplish all this, I basically land at my desk at 9 a.m. and then don’t leave it for good until 10 p.m. (just ask my wife if you don’t believe me). I also usually put in a few hours on Sunday.
I do all of this, and yet my work is not yet sustainable. I still need more paying subscribers in order for me to replace my former salary. Subscribing not only supports all the free content I deliver you each week, but it also gets you exclusive case study interviews delivered to your inbox, plus an entire archive of case study interviews for you to peruse at your leisure.
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Not Boring: How Twitter Got Its Groove Back
This is a long piece, but I think it completely captures my long-held beliefs that Twitter has been undervalued by Wall Street/advertisers and is a lot healthier than most people realize.
Probably the biggest reason Twitter is underestimated is because it lives in the shadow of Facebook, a company that’s able to tout its billions of logged-in users. But Facebook is a closed ecosystem, thereby necessitating a log-in as a means of doing business.
Twitter is much more a creature of the open web. Think of how often you see tweets embedded in articles or displayed in a TV broadcast. Its logged-in users are important, but they’re only one component of the platform’s reach.
Think of any live event across entertainment, sports, natural disasters, or politics; all the important conversation about it happens on Twitter. What’s more, no platform has even come close to replicating its influence. And yet advertisers still don’t understand that any conversation that starts on Twitter will ripple out into virtually every other kind of media.
Office Hours: The Office Hours Interview - Simon Owens
That’s me! I went really deep on the business of newsletters and why it's such a grind to both grow your audience and convert them into paid subscribers.
New Yorker: Who Really Created the Marvel Universe?
From the article: "Nine of the thirty top-grossing films in history use Marvel characters."
You could make an argument that Stan Lee is the most influential media mogul of the last 100 years.
Want to interact with me directly?
I have a private Facebook group that I only promote it in this newsletter, and it’s grown to over 450 members, almost all of whom work in the media industry. It’s a great place for people to swap trade secrets and discuss industry news. Go here to join: [Facebook]
Digiday: Facebook pivots away from politics –publishers say ‘we’re just along for the ride’
I think publishers are a lot less concerned with this than they would have been four years ago. Most publishers I've spoken to have placed a lot of effort the last few years on reducing their reliance on Facebook for traffic.
Creator spotlight: How Ernie Smith built his popular Tedium newsletter
I would consider Ernie to be one of the foremost experts on newsletters. I really admire what he built with Tedium.
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Simon Owens is a tech and media journalist living in Washington, DC. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Email him at simonowens@gmail.com. For a full bio, go here.