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There’s just one week to go until our first ever Publisher Podcast Summit – if you’re thinking of starting a podcast and want to know what kit you need, or if you have multiple pods and are looking for strategies to take them to the next level, this is the place for you. MVNL20 gets you 20% off virtual and in-person tickets.
Can platforms outsmart Texas’s social media law? — www.platformer.news
This new law coming into Texas had completely escaped me but now I’m reading up about it, it’s bonkers. HB20 would allow the state’s attorney general and average citizens to sue platforms with more than 50 million users any time they believe the platform removed a post due to the viewpoint it expresses.
Yes, that means someone could sue Facebook for removing harassment, abuse, misinformation, hate speech and all sorts of other content (anti-vaxx, pro-Nazi… you can only imagine). Texas has told the court that the law only apples to Meta, YouTube and Twitter; but in fact other platforms with more than 50 million monthly users in the United States include Wikipedia, Quora, Microsoft Teams, and iMessage.
“The future of content moderation feels like it’s all about to come down to a coin flip, and I’m not sure anyone is fully prepared for what could come next.” said Casey Newton.
Digital publishing revenue up by 12% with 70% boost for recruitment ads — pressgazette.co.uk
Recruitment ad revenue has seen a huge burst of growth in the UK with revenue from classifieds up 70.3% year-on-year. Online video revenue was up by 7.1% and subscriptions grew by 3.5%, but sponsorship revenue dropped by 9.7%. So far it’s looking like publishers are in a good position to weather this recession.
Hearst eyes $12 billion in revenue as B2B business grows — www.axios.com
On a related note, Hearst is having a good year, driven by the expansion of its B2B business which has branched out from specialty publications to adjacent data and software businesses. A decade ago, Hearst’s specialty media portfolio represented less than 10% of total profits. This year, it will be north of 40%. Riches in niches…
How The Local Sweden uses product thinking to remain “useful” to readers — www.journalism.co.uk
The Local is a news outlet for English-speaking expats, published in nine European countries. Its Swedish edition uses reader surveys and audience data to create editorial products that its readers want and need. Their version of ‘product thinking’ is simply to make sure the publication is useful to its readers. Can’t argue with that.
New episode:
As the streaming wars heat up, a reckoning is coming for traditional TV — voices.media
For this next season of the Media Voices Podcast, kindly sponsored by Poool, we’ll be publishing ten episodes exploring the biggest trends of 2022 and how they affect publishers. For this first episode, we’re joined by The Addition’s Charlotte Henry to explore how key moments in broadcast, streaming and TV have shaped the media landscape this year.
Publishing ideas to steal: abandon clicks, target print, and read the room — voices.media
The problem with publishing Peter’s column on a Friday is remembering to put it in the newsletter on a Sunday evening! This week he suggests not stressing about newsletter clicks, making magazines for the hyper-enthusiasts, and reading the room in times of crisis.
