Why Spotify is struggling to copy YouTube's playbook

PLUS: Google's search update is hitting independent publishers especially hard.

Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media industry newsletter. If you've received it, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.

If you fit into the latter camp and want to subscribe, then you can click on this handy little button:

Let’s jump into it…

Quick hits

The Influencers Going Viral in Aisle 8

If you can’t afford a luxury item, then watching someone else who can afford it is the next best thing. “A recent survey found that Gen Z now devotes over three hours a day, more than any other generation, to browsing fantasy purchases online.” — Cosmo

The Streaming Wars Didn’t Kill the Little Guys. In Fact, They’re Thriving.

All the major media conglomerates that tried to achieve Netflix-like scale with their streaming services have pretty much stalled out on growth. Meanwhile, subscriptions to niche streaming services have more than doubled since 2022, growing from 25 million to north of 50 million. — NYT

The tiny tweak that could change YouTube forever

Like all platform tweaks, this one would benefit some creators and punish others, but the reason I think a lot of YouTubers would be nervous about the platform introducing a TikTok-like scroll to longform YouTube videos is that it would take even more agency away from users and place it in the hands of the all-knowing algorithm, which would force YouTubers to cater to that algorithm even more than they already do. — The Verge

Spotify’s Push for More Video Podcasts Puts Networks on Defense

Spotify always had ambitions to build out a YouTube-like system for sharing revenue with podcasters, but it was hindered by the industry's heavy fragmentation; after all, a huge portion of podcasts are hosted on platforms other than Spotify. YouTube was only able to build out its huge advertising business by handling the distribution AND hosting of all its videos.

Now, Spotify is trying to create incentives for podcasters to move their shows onto its own hosting platform, but the industry is understandably hesitant to hand over that much power to a single player. — Bloomberg

How Chris Wallace Cut the Cord

For the $7 million CNN was paying Chris Wallace, the network can afford to hire 46 journalists at pretty decent salaries. It seems like a no-brainer to me that those journalists could provide a lot more value for the company's new digital subscription strategy than any one anchor. — Puck

Why Bluesky is working: the network is in control

I think Bluesky would be much bigger today if it had simply come out of closed beta much earlier; in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, so many users were looking for an alternative and glommed onto Threads simply because it was the most viable at the time. Now a lot of those same users probably won't want to go through the trouble of rebuilding their social graph on yet another network.

I am rooting for Bluesky though for the simple reason that it's one of the few social networks left that remains committed to a reverse chronological feed. I've had lots of virality on Threads, but it resulted in very little traffic to my website simply because the platform throttles link posts. — Tedium

BTW, you can follow me on Bluesky over here.

The economics of ghostwriting books

I’m sure just about everybody has had the experience of looking at a celebrity memoir and wondering: did they actually write that? In many cases, they didn’t, at least not by themselves. There’s actually an entire shadow economy of ghostwriters who do the bulk of the work on these books — not just for celebrities, but all kinds of public figures ranging from big-name CEOs to politicians.

But how does one go about hiring a ghostwriter? And what’s it like to work with one? Dan Gerstein, the founder of Gotham Ghostwriters, an agency that specializes in connecting clients to professional ghostwriters, recently answered these questions in an interview.

You can watch, listen to, or read the interview over here.

More quick hits

Google Hosts Website Creators as Search Complaints Grow

Several independent publishers that once relied on Google for traffic said their search referrals cratered when the company released a new update in 2023 targeting what it claimed were "low quality" websites. “Google basically said, ‘Look, you will never see the same amount of traffic you saw prior to September of 2023, part of that is because Google has changed." — The Information

This ‘Wall Street Girly’ Wants to Make Wealth More Accessible

A former JP Morgan trader now has 2 million followers on TikTok, a NYT bestselling book, and is on track to generate $7 million this year. She specializes in offering financial advice and explainers for a younger audience. — NYT

From Teen Star to Entrepreneur

Emma Chamberlain is one of the few creators who managed to become a big star without scaling up a huge production team. She only uploads to YouTube sporadically, and most of her videos are either shot by her or her father. She doesn't really post to TikTok, and when she does upload photos to Instagram, they're often sponsored by a luxury brand. Pretty much the only content she regularly puts out is her Spotify podcast, which mostly just consists of her speaking solo into a microphone about random topics. — NYT

The Rise of Johnny Harris, Explained

I really think Johnny Harris represents the future of independent video journalism. He's built out a small team and regularly puts out documentaries with the same production quality as anything you'd find on TV. — Created

Can Democrats Compete With the Rogan-verse?

I find most post-election analysis to be pretty vapid — with many people using it as an excuse to reinforce their already-existing beliefs — but I'm glad there's finally some serious discussion about liberals building out their own media ecosystem. They had an early head start in the 2000s with the rise of the Netroots, and then they just sorta gave up on maintaining that momentum. — Vanity Fair

Where Did All the Hollywood Assistants Go?

Personal assistants used to be the glue that held Hollywood together, and the role functions as a sort of entry-level apprenticeship that could lead to much bigger things. But cost-cutting across the industry has led to much fewer assistant job openings. — Vanity Fair

Please don’t take my newsletter and podcast for granted

I rely on paid subscriptions for the vast majority of my revenue. Without enough paid subscribers, I can’t continue justifying spending 40+ hours a week on my newsletter and podcast, and I’ll need to shut them down so I can seek out other work.

Let me put this another way: if you’d be disappointed if I suddenly announced that I’m shutting down my newsletter and podcast — a very real possibility —  then you should probably subscribe. 

Seriously, it’s only $100 for a full year, and if you’re using insights from my content to improve your own business, then that $100 pays for itself. And if you use the link below, you get 20% off for the first year: