TheMediaBriefing Podcast

Welcome back to the latest season of The Publisher Podcast, bringing you the best of the main stage sessions from The Publisher Summit. This week's guest is Sarah Donaldson, co-founder of news start-up The Nerve. In a bit of a twist, this isn’t actually audio from the Summit. We scheduled a 20 minute interview slot on stage with Sarah and barely scratched the surface of what we wanted to discuss as it’s such a fascinating case study, so we caught up with her again over the summer as The Nerve nears its first birthday for an extended interview. The Nerve was launched last September by a group of five former Observer journalists. In less than a week after launching, it had hit 8,000 sign-ups and more than 1,000 paying members, all without a paywall. As they turn one, they’ve continued to go from strength to strength, and significantly are now on the brink of sustainability. Sarah talks about the opportunity they spotted to launch a news and culture brand, which audience touchpoints they decided to focus on, and why they’ve seen such early success. Thanks to the Summit's premium sponsors; Pugpig and Beehiiv, and to the digital sponsors; qwoted, Adestra and Warners for their support.

For publishers and event organisers, knowing where to start with AI is a common conundrum. For Bridged Media’s clients, the starting point is always a problem to be solved. Welcome to the latest in our Media Briefs series of short, sharp sponsored episodes, this time featuring a senior executive working with a vendor that is making their businesses better. In this episode, we hear from Sharon Roessen, Chief Operating Officer at global B2B events business Terrapinn, working with Bridged Media to develop a series of AI agents designed to streamline customer experience. She spoke about the development process - from identifying a problem to developing a solution - and how one agentic AI experiment has led to a suite of agents that are increasing event attendance and easing registration bottlenecks. This Media Briefs episode is sponsored by Bridged Media, democratising AI for publishers. Through no-code AI solutions, Bridged lets publishers access the power of machine learning and Gen AI to meet their engagement and revenue objectives. Learn more about Bridged Media’s no-code AI tools on their website.

In this special Conversations episode of The Publisher Podcast, sponsored by Pugpig, we hear from CEO and founder Jonny Kaldor about the data that proves apps are engagement and retention powerhouses. Pugpig has just released their annual 2026 Media App Report, packed with benchmarks and insights from 140 media brands and 440+ live apps. Jonny looks at some of the publisher app trends from the report, why direct consumer relationships are the highest priority right now, and the deeper levels of engagement shown by app users compared to web visitors. He also explains why apps are now surprisingly being used for subscriber acquisition, not just retention, and how publishers can identify gaps in their conversion strategies using apps.

In the final episode of this season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Lily Barclay, the first Content Director of Immediate's Food Group covering BBC Good Food and olive magazine. Lily has been with Good Food for over 18 years and has seen the brand's evolution from print only to a multiplatform and multi-brand specialist publishing group. She talks about what separates their food brands, Immediate's new Good Food Kitchen to support digital content creation and real-world recipe testing, and leveraging ratings and reviews to build trust. She also takes us inside olive's successful print refresh, where a reduced frequency, higher quality stock and price point has rewarded them with a 40% increase in newsstand sales and 400% increase in subscriptions. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media  

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Heather Dietrick, Chief Media Officer at Outside Inc.  Heather talked about the evolution of the company from 'just' a magazine to what she calls a fully integrated outdoor ecosystem, encompassing 15 media brands, events, consumer apps and travel services. What ties everything together is a mission to inspire and enable people to get outside. She also discusses Outside Inc's revenue mix, with recurring revenue tiered around paid content and app subscriptions, which now makes up 60% of the business. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Toby Moses, Head of Newsletters at The Guardian. Toby has been in charge of newsletters at The Guardian since 2021 - the first person in the role. Just five years ago, there was no real unified newsletter strategy at The Guardian. Now, after many launches and relaunches, newsletters are a key part of how the publisher builds relationships with its readers, with journalists front and centre, and newsletters as content in themselves rather than as just a referral tool. Toby talks about which metrics signal success for them depending on the type of newsletter, what they've learned from a variety of pop-up series, and how newsletters are playing a strategic part in their US growth. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Gemma Ware, Head of Audio at The Conversation UK. She joined as the publication was launching in the UK as Education Editor, but soon spotted an opportunity to develop a podcast offering. Over the years, The Conversation's podcasts have grown in sophistication, earning them two trophies at last year's Publisher Podcast Awards. Gemma takes us through their journey in audio, from early experiments in monthly shows to the full portfolio of limited series on a wide range of topics, as well as their weekly show. She also explains what they've learned about podcast best practice, how they put together narrative shows, and what podcast success looks like for The Conversation as a nonprofit. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

At Flashes & Flames' recent Monetising B2B Information and Events conference in London, leading B2B publishers shared their priorities, opportunities and concerns across the day.  Held at London’s historic Stationers’ Hall, the event featured more than 30 industry-leading speakers and 210 delegates from three continents. The speakers showed that the B2B industry is going through another transformation, moving away from passive information delivery towards becoming essential to the workflow of their customers.  This episode draws out the common points discussed from some of the main stage speakers. Three common themes emerged: building 'moats' to protect businesses against AI disruption, publishers building intelligence ecosystems, and becoming indispensable infrastructure to customers. See more coverage from Monetising B2B at flashesandflames.com 

What is zero-click search, and does it really pose an existential threat to the publishing business? Our new report, The Zero-Click Content Shift, aims to answer exactly that question. Produced in association with Woodwing and authored by MediaVoices' Peter Houston, the report gauges the impact of Google's AI Overviews on publisher traffic, and tries to get a sense of how big the threat really is. We also take a closer look at the reality of zero-click search for the publishing business, from its effect on content discovery to brand visibility, referral traffic, and revenue. This episode is a special accompaniment to the report, featuring interviews with Barry Adams, SEO & Audience Growth Consultant at Polemic Digital, Clara Soteras, SEO for News Publishers and Audience Growth Consultant, and John Fong, Managing Director of APAC and Digital Services at Woodwing. The podcast explores: How AI Overviews are transforming how content is discovered, consumed and monetised; The notion of Google Zero as an industry bogeyman versus the current reality; Existential anxiety in publishing, and how the data shows a more nuanced picture; Google's continued dominance and changing search dynamics; Strategic responses for publishers; What AI overviews hurt, and where the opportunities lie. Download The Zero Click Content Shift report for free at voices.media/zeroclick This report and podcast episode is sponsored by WoodWing. WoodWing empowers publishing ecosystems by uniting technology with deep industry expertise. For 25+ years, we’ve helped teams create, manage, and deliver content across print and digital channels with greater efficiency and consistency. Our portfolio spans multi-channel production, digital assets, quality, knowledge, and information management. Founded in 2000, we operate globally from our headquarters in the Netherlands.   Learn more about WoodWing’s publishing solutions at woodwing.com

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Lauren Holleyoake, Publisher of Bauer magazines Grazia, Empire and Mojo, and also the lead of Bauer's bookazine business. Bauer has a strong portfolio of print specialist titles in areas like golf, classic cars and angling. They have made bookazines in the past, but part of Lauren's job has been to formalise the process, from coming up with standard ways of working to exploring the market opportunity for these titles. Lauren talks about using bookazines as a chance for editorial teams to show off their passions, why high production values and premium content still matter for making content pay, and the surprising success of Bauer's bookazines abroad. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Liz Alesse, Vice President and General Manager of Axios Local. She is responsible for building and scaling Axios' local journalism business as a sustainable national platform. Liz talks about how Axios Local has evolved since launching five years ago, and what they've learned about scaling with market-specific models rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. She emphasises the importance of their reporters as brand ambassadors and key anchors for areas, citing talent as one of the primary factors for expanding into a market. Axios Local has yet to turn a profit, but Liz is bullish on their prospects for cracking sustainable local journalism at scale, discussing their revenue diversification strategy and how AI has become a force multiplier for them. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Charlotte Owen, Executive Vice President at BDG and Editor-in-Chief of Bustle. Bustle is a female-focused media brand aimed at 20-30 year olds who want to live a big life. Charlotte talks about the importance of niche targeting over broad appeal, how the generalist era being over has helped editors hone in on points of view, and how they leverage social media.  She also discusses why Bustle and BDG more widely are seeing revenue growth of 40% and 25% respectively, in a market that other women's brands are finding tough. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

In the latest episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Ismail Akwei, Editor of Global South World. Global South World is a news brand with a mission to build a more informed and nuanced understanding of the Global South, counteracting parachute journalism and condescension with news and opinion from a network of journalists and creators that actually live across Asia, Africa and South America. Akwei talks about commentary from Western leaders about countries in the Global South, and the issues with minimising whole continents to one negative news story. He also discussed what works well for content distribution, data visualisation, and building active communities, as well as how their creator-led news network approach works in practice. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media  

In the latest episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Dea Lawrence, Publisher and Co-President of Variety. Variety has transformed from a B2B pure play to a hybrid business and consumer publication. It still does 70,000 copies a week in print for the industry people who are desperate to see themselves on the cover, but online it reaches millions of passionate entertainment fans. Dea talks about how Variety has weathered the disruption in the entertainment industry itself, the increasing importance of international creators and audiences, and why everything is a content and sponsorship opportunity. She also explains to Peter why microdramas are the next big thing. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media  

In this episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Ben Smith, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Semafor. Ben has previously worked at publications like the New York Times and Buzzfeed, before joining Justin Smith to co-found Semafor in 2022. The publication, which distills the news for global audiences, has launched industry-leading events, pioneered their own article format, and reached profitability in its third year. Ben spoke to us about how their audience and approach has evolved since launch, where they see opportunities and red lines for AI, where he sees paid content fitting into their business model, and how their exclusive CEO newsletter is going. He also shares his advice for anyone looking at launching a news start-up today. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media  

Welcome back to the spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast! This week's guest is Faversham House CEO Amanda Barnes. Faversham House is an independent UK B2B media, information and events company with brands across two main sectors: utilities and sustainability. Amanda led a management buyout of the family-owned publisher in 2010. Since then, the organisation has moved away from traditional ad-funded, print-led titles to online information, marketing solutions, subscriptions and events. Amanda joined us on The Publisher Podcast to talk through how she led the business through those early stages of transformation, how Covid accelerated some of their more recent changes, and why the idea of brand ecosystems is vital for the next stages.  Amanda Barnes will be speaking at Monetising B2B Information & Events 2026 on a panel about events and information strategies. Join us at Stationers’ Hall, London on 13th May but hurry - there are only a few tickets remaining.

In the last episode of this season of The Publisher Podcast from Media Voices, we're bringing you a panel from our last Publisher Summit, all about strategies for converting newsletter readers into paying subscribers. This panel featured Henry Seltzer, Director of Newsletter Operations at Bloomberg, Joshi Herrmann, Founder at Mill Media, and Rosie Percy, Newsletter Strategy Director at Hearst UK, moderated by Chris Sutcliffe. Henry, Joshi and Rosie explored tips and tools used to convert free newsletter subscribers to a paying product, from testing and optimisation to campaigns and messaging. Early Bird booking for this year’s Publisher Summit is now open. We’ll be holding the Summit on July 8th at a really cool venue near Paddington in London, with a single main stage focused on direct-to-audience product strategies. If you’re specifically interested in newsletters or podcasts though, we’re shaping the agenda so you can sit on a relevant main stage session, then step out for dedicated workshops, so there will always be something valuable to get involved with. The Summit will take place before the Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Awards in the evening, both of which are now open for entries. More details about tickets, entering the Awards, and all this at voices.media/events.

Welcome to this special season of The Publisher Podcast, bringing you the best sessions from the Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information and Events, which we held with Flashes & Flames in London. This week’s episode features Alex Roth, Strategy Director for Informa Plc the second biggest B2B company based in the UK, and the biggest B2B events business in the world.  Alex spoke about how Informa is focussing on how AI can improve ways of working, product development, especially around data insights, and how it supports discovery, helping Informa’s audiences find and access content.     He spoke about redesigning processes to incorporate AI has driven progress, the development of an internal app store and an app builder agent to avoid overloading the company’s central AI team, and how focus is the key to taking on AI.  Read the key takeaways from this session, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

Welcome back to our special season bringing you the best sessions from the Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information and Events, which we held with Flashes & Flames in London. This week we’re featuring a panel looking at whether AI is a golden opportunity for exhibitions and events organisers. This featured Greg Hitchen, CEO of Terrapinn, Alison Jackson, Group MD at Nineteen Group, Robin Booth, Managing Director at EMAP, and Robin Tapp, CIO at RX, interviewed by Flashes & Flames’ Colin Morrison. The panel discussed AI’s role in enhancing face-to-face interactions and improving efficiency, as well as its use in revenue generation, leveraging metadata, and matching buyers and sellers.  Read the key takeaways from this session, find our weekly newsletter, AI Masterclasses and more on voices.media

Welcome to this special season of The Publisher Podcast, bringing you the best sessions from the Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information and Events, which we held with Flashes & Flames in London. This week features an interview with Mumsnet CEO Sue Macmillan speaking about how the 25-year old parenting forum is harnessing AI to power stronger pitches, deliver more actionable insights to brand partners and tighten internal management procedures. Sue described how she has made her own custom GPTs, why she feels that for managers to understand AI they have to use it themselves, and how we need to see it more as an electric bike than a self-driving car.  Read the key takeaways from this session, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media