Creator Economy Magazine
What's new from around the Web, June 2022 Issue.
Hey Guys,
While I juggle managing ten Newsletters on Substack and others on LinkedIn, I’m also listening to new media watchers and the News cycle and there’s a lot to cover.
So let’s get into it. Due to Gmail’s truncating limits I won’t be linking everything but you can google a title if you want to read the entire article.
There’s a reason Substack is pushing Podcasting for audiences to better identify with Creators and thus support them, it’s based on industry trends.
A great case study for how a free podcast can drive paid subscriptions.
According to recent Nieman Lab article.
Title:
Moral of the story? Podcasting is beginning to matter in the Creator funnel.
The sports and culture website earns 95% of its revenue from subscriptions. When Normal Gossip launched paid subscriptions last month, the podcast gave Defector its biggest one-week increase in more than a year.
Key Takeaway
Want to boost your conversion rates of free to paid subscribers? Try podcasting and augmenting your writing with audio. Podcasting can also access new audiences and open new doors. According to Nieman Lab’s coverage there’s also evidence the podcast is helping Defector reach new audiences; while 75% of Defector subscribers are men, 65% of Normal Gossip subscribers are women and roughly half are under the age of 34. That’s pretty cool.
Newsletter Are a Winning Model in the 2020s in Digital Media
Axios has 2.5 million newsletter subscribers. Now it's trying to figure out ways to get its already-existing subscribers to sign up for more Axios newsletters.
Title:
Digital media are leaning how to leverage Newsletters, Podcasts and bundling summaries better than ever. Digiday says that bundling appears to be the new strategy for newsletter publishers like Axios that are hoping to lock in loyal readers.
In March, Axios decided to package its AM and PM newsletters, along with the newly launched, end-of-day newsletter called Finish Line, in one bundle called the Daily Essentials. The KPIs that digital media use here are fascinating:
The idea was that people reading one or the other of the daily news products would already be reading — or at least interested in — the other product as well, so it made sense to make the sign-up process a one-step ordeal, versus two or three.
After seeing how the transition to the Daily Essentials model increased open rates and avoided a substantial decrease in number of subscribers to the newsletters, (the company declined to share subscriber totals or open rates to the individual products in its portfolio).
Axios’s audience has reached a total of 2.5 million email subscribers across all of its newsletter products, with an average open rate of about 41%, according to the company.
Food for thought guys, on the topic of Niche bundling: Subsack’s recommendations does increase seamless bundling of niche content where most Newsletters recommend Newsletters in their respective niche. This is important before their Android app comes out. The iOS app is ranked #24 in News not bad Substack! Speaking of which:
Spotify’s Investment in Podcasting Has really worked out
We knew this was coming all the way back when Spotify first made its big push into podcasting. It'll be interesting to see whether Spotify can introduce an advertising model to audiobooks, which hasn't really been tried yet. Now Spotify will double down on audio books. The mobile internet means we are reading less and watching and listening more.
According to the Verge, Spotify plans to make audiobooks the third pillar of its business. If you aren’t sure how to get into audio content and can’t be bothered to make a professional podcast, try just reading your posts out loud as a start! At least your audience can learn to enjoy your voice. (that creates a more personal connection).
Spotify’s first big step into that business is its acquisition of Findaway, which was announced last year. The audiobook platform is in many ways like Anchor.
Spotify can potentially disrupt Amazon’s Audible which is over-priced for audiobooks for sure. The Verge notes how the model will work is not entirely clear, but it appears that at least some of the audiobooks will be free.
What is Creator Friendly SEO?
Just say Yes, I mean yep.
With the latest infusion of Web3 hype, the Creator Economy has bene a slight beneficiary of some of the funds and startups. I guess this is such an example.
Though I prefer this one:
Young People Convert to Paid News Easier with Podcasts
Indie creators have been monetizing with paid podcasts for years, but traditional media companies were slow to jump on the bandwagon. Now there’s widespread indicators and KPIs that show that young people are fine to pay for News, especially if augmented with audio.
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What’s New in Publishing states that niche podcasts hyper-targeted at growing different audiences can perform well at scale. In fact, Tortoise now calls itself an audio-first publisher, with its podcasts reaching almost 3 million monthly downloads in December, according to Press Gazette. Young people might just be less trusting of written clickbait titles, but more immersed in audio brands that feel more genuine and personable.
“What we found is that our journalism, our slow, narrative-led stories, is a formula that lives better in audio than on a small screen as a long-read,” Liz Moseley, CMO at Tortoise told WAN-IFRA. “It’s kind of obvious now I say it, but it took us a long time to realise that was going be the case.”
New media is really evolving in the mobile era. Newsletters and podcasting rather than websites and social media scrolling. And what have you noticed?
Various new models are taking place, as publishers are experimenting wildly. Tortoise, for instance, is well known for its membership offering. Articles are gated by a metered registration wall, with full membership granting access to the full site, ThinkIns, daily emails, podcasts, and member-only invitations. They also have offers for students and pay-it-forward memberships which makes it difficult to gauge exactly how many paying subscribers they have. A recent estimate from Flashes and Flames’ Colin Morrison puts the figure at around 55,000, with a further 40,000 holding free membership. Clearly they are doing something right!
I like this pay-it-forward membership idea!
Tortoise is slow, because it chooses to cover only a few topics and stories, and it doesn’t aim to cover breaking news. And open, because its members are invited to have their say on the publication’s editorial decisions.
Omg so About half of the members pay for their own membership, while the other half are funded by Tortoise’s corporate partners through a bursary scheme called Tortoise Network. The sponsored membership programme allows the publisher, in collaboration with charities, to bring in people who otherwise would be excluded.
If I could find corporate sponsors to enable this, I would. Substack should really take a closer look at this model. But Substack product people now officially ignore me. oh well!
Key Takeaway
To lure younger readers into News subscriptions, try podcasting and innovative pay-it-forward membership schemes. Tortoise’s average membership age is much younger than many other publishers; 39 compared to 55+. Try providing quality over quantity to what matters to them!
High Brow Podcasts Also Work well
The Economist made an early bet on podcasting, and its shows are now being listened to by 3 million people per month. "The publication now employs approximately 30 staff exclusively on its podcast work"
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According to Press Gazette, The Economist’s monthly podcast listeners are now more than double its print subscriber base – and the audio products are paying their way despite being outside the publication’s paywall. Yikes guys.
Much of what makes for a good Economist story, Prideaux said, makes for a good Economist podcast. He identified “good reporting”, “striking analysis” and “clarity” as some of those ingredients, adding that in a podcast there was “more room for colour”.
Good reporting
Striking analysis
Clarity
Podcast/audio: More room for color
We thank the Economist for their insights! Their publication was an early adopter of podcasting however with The World Ahead, that started way back in 2006! Unbelievable. I did not know that.
Substack Could be the Place to Serialize Books
David Kushner's Masters of Doom is considered one of the most influential books about the gaming industry, and now he's using a Substack newsletter to publish its sequel. But is there a viable business model for this type of serialized publishing?
Substack is giving priority to “real” writers the way LinkedIn gives priority to “real” influencers. This makes it hard for indie creators to compete. But at the end of the day Substack needs to be profitable.
Anyways guys this was just a quick snippet in the Creator Magazine, that goes on forever. Unfortunately I’ve reached my Email length limit (so soon!).
Thanks for reading!