Happy Friday! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

Thank you and goodbye: The Overtake — theovertake.com

The Overtake's editor-in-chief Robyn Vinter summed its closure up very simply: "It's been a blast". That's also been true for those of us who watched a small local newspaper punch way above its weight, and demonstrate it is possible to make a go of national stories with a local angle in a way that puts many of the legacy regional publishers to shame.

We interviewed Robyn in 2019, and she was candid about the constant tightrope The Overtake was walking financially: "there’s no prizes for turning down an advertiser. It is tricky. And it’s finding a balance all the time." In the end, despite having sought out alternate funding methods and sponsorships, The Overtake was growing too slowly to be financially secure. It's a huge shame and we're very sorry to see it go - though we're sure all the team will be snapped up, given their talent.

Vinter, though, is keen to stress this isn't a verdict on the ability of independent local news to be sustainable: "I think people would expect me to save face and say it’s impossible to run an independent news website in today’s climate. But I just don’t believe that’s true... I don’t want people to be disheartened by seeing us close, especially because any publication starting now has a much better chance of long-term success than The Overtake did."

The New York Times tops 7.5 Million subscriptions as ads decline — medianut.substack.com

In its fourth-quarter earnings report, The New York Times Company (are we retiring "failing NYT"?) said 2020 was its biggest year for adding subscribers. All the trends are exactly as you'd expect in this latest set of results from the NYT - though as ever it's worth paying attention to the proportion of non-news products the NYT is launching to support its journalism.

These local newspapers say Facebook and Google are killing them. Now they’re fighting back — www.washingtonpost.com

There's really nothing more to be said about this narrative that the Duopoly "stole" anything from newspapers. It's not true and it's not helpful. What is interesting for us here is that a group of US local newspapers has smelled blood in the water over the anti-trust lawsuits already filed against Facebook and Google. Expect more "donations" to journalism from the Duopoly in short order.

“New secret weapon in the monetization battle”: How publishers can benefit from embedded eCommerce — whatsnewinpublishing.com

You can bet your bottom dollar that, even if the baking trend drops off after the pandemic, the eCommerce gains are here to stay. Publishers, eyeing that spend, are looking for any way to capitalise on the explosive growth in home shopping. That might be tech-based, as this article for WNIP based on a FIPP report argues, or it might simply be recognising that a magazine brand is a key player in the recommendation space.

This week's podcast:

Mr. Magazine Samir Husni on why magazines are new media — voices.media

This week Dr Samir Husni tells us why magazines are the ultimate new media. He explains the wild ride that was magazine publishing in 2020, his print evangelism, the benefits that digital brings and his favourite magazine.

Help us keep the (ring) lights on — ko-fi.com

We're perilously close to covering our running costs thanks to the generous donations of our contributors. If you feel you can chuck us a couple of quid to reach our target, we'd be eternally grateful. We promise not to spend too much of it on coffee.