We at Media Voices get a LOT of media newsletters between us to keep on top of everything that’s going on.
Here are our recommendations of the top media and publishing newsletters to sign up to, including how often they come out and key features.
P.S. We have a weekly media newsletter too…find out more here.
Brand newsletters
Nieman Lab
Frequency: Daily
Why sign up: Nieman Lab have their finger on the pulse when it comes to media news that matters, especially when it comes to the Duopoly and local news. It’s US-focused, but half of the newsletter is a ‘What we’re reading’ from all around the world, so it gives an excellent overview from all the top media news outlets as well as highlighting their own work.
The Fix
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: This is one of the few publications which really goes into the European market in depth. Their weekly newsletter contains case studies, key updates and more from European publishers and media groups, and is well worth a read for an alternative perspective on traditionally US-driven trends.
The Audiencers
Frequency: Fortnightly
Why sign up: Excellent, detailed case studies of publishers in the subscription space, from registration wall best practice to retention tactics, onboarding and engagement. The newsletter, sent every two weeks, is also available in French.
Axios Media Trends
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: Sara Fischer’s weekly round-up is comprehensive, smart and definitely one not to miss. It’s much more focused on top-level issues, but is a neat way of packaging enough information to ensure that the newsletter is all you need to keep up to date with essential media trends and the context around them.
Bo Sacks
Frequency: Daily (x3)
Why sign up: Three emails all at once may seem like a lot, but it’s a method that works for Bo Sacks, an independent publishing columnist. Each newsletter is quite simply a full article which has caught his eye, and range from classic publishing discussions to cutting edge media trends from a variety of popular sources such as Digiday and Ad Contrarian. Not having to navigate away from your inbox is great, and don’t miss the amusing pictures at the bottom of each one.
FIPP
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: FIPP World is the media network’s weekly newsletter, and contains a nice mix of their own stories from member publishers and a round up from across the industry. It’s also a good way of finding out the latest about their industry-leading events.
Digital Content Next’s InContext
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: This newsletter, edited by Michelle Manafy, includes a set of carefully curated must read articles from around the web along with original articles written by and about the organisation’s members and supporters. They’ve got an impressive set of digital publishers on their list, so their insight and articles are well worth getting in your inbox once a week.
Journalism.co.uk
Frequency: Daily
Why sign up: The Journalism.co.uk team’s daily newsletter has their latest articles and an editorial, as well as a tip of the day, updates from their newsrewired conference, jobs, and available training. It’s very UK-focused so is ideal for journalists and publishers looking for more localised updates.
Press Gazette
Frequency: Daily
Why sign up: Press Gazette’s editorial team have been on fire recently, leading coverage of the business of media both in the UK and for big US publishers too. There’s also a weekly Future of Media email with a more strategic focus.
The Publisher Newsletter by Media Voices
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: Our weekly newsletter brings you a full feature-length case study of publishers and products powering publishing, as well as a round-up of our must-reads. We sometimes drop exclusive newsletter-only pieces in there too…
Individual newsletters
The Magazine Diaries
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: Our very own Peter Houston has his own weekly newsletter rounding up the best ideas to steal from magazine publishing. Each week he collects together three case studies of ideas you can put into practice in your own business, in his signature irreverent style.
A Media Operator
Frequency: Biweekly (once a week free)
Why sign up: A Media Operator is a subscription-based publication for people building digital media companies, run by Jacob Donelly. Newsletters are sent out twice a week with a mix of story summaries and full pieces on the tactics and strategies that go into running digital media companies. Jacob’s analysis is whip-smart, and this is a favourite of ours.
The Rebooting
Frequency: Biweekly
Why sign up: Ex Digiday EiC Brian Morrissey has set up his own podcast and newsletter focused on building more sustainable media businesses. The topics range from insights into how he built things up at Digiday to interviews with key media figures on their business models. It’s razor sharp, and is definitely the one I forward most often to my co-founders as there’s always a useful lesson or two.
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter
Frequency: Biweekly
Why sign up: Simon Owens also runs a podcast and newsletter covering everything from the Creator Economy to traditional media. His newsletter is a mix of analysis and interviews on how publishers create, distribute and monetise digital content.
The Addition
Frequency: Biweekly
Why sign up: The Addition is from tech and media journalist Charlotte Henry. Her original analysis is focused on the crossover of media, tech, culture, sport and politics, with a mix of UK and wider stories.
Kevin Anderson’s Newsletter
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: Friend of the podcast Kevin Anderson runs a great snappy newsletter that pulls in articles he’s seen from around the web, plus a little note with his thoughts on them. He’s brilliant at picking out things we’d have otherwise missed, especially around product, strategy and innovation.
Baekdal Plus
Frequency: Weekly
Why sign up: Thomas Baekdal is a razor-sharp media analyst that we regularly quote on the podcast. His weekly newsletter often has some very well-argued points in, and lots of food for thought.
Platformer
Frequency: Daily paid, weekly free
Why sign up: This newsletter is for hardcore platform news followers. Casey Newton collects together literally everything you could possibly want to know about Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and more with a political lens, and also includes a chunky analysis at the start on an aspect he finds especially important.
These are just our top pick of the most useful of the many emails we get between us, so if you’ve got any favourites, let us know.