Monday 12th July: Survey shows that reach doesn't always equate to revenue

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A new survey suggests the link between reach and revenue is ‘totally broken’ for independent publishers. But equating reach and revenue is a strange takeaway.

The study shows almost 60 of the UK’s independent publishers earned a combined revenue of less than £5.4 million in 2020 despite a reach of over 10 million people a month. And the report does a great job of lifting the lid on the business concerns of smaller outfits. But there’s no scientific formula that says if you reach X people you’ll make Y money. That focus on scale caused the failed platform pivot.

As Esther points out in this week's episode, smaller publications shouldn't be chasing scale. The real headline here is that most independent publishers get by on shoestring budgets - median income just £42,224 - and as a sector, it needs to be figuring out what a sustainable revenue mix looks like.

There are calls for Theresa May's former communications director Sir Robbie Gibb to be sacked from the BBC board. It is claimed he tried to block Jess Brammar from a senior job on political grounds. UK media Twitter is furious about "Conservative cronyism at the heart of the BBC" but political resignations are as rare as Tory MPs in Scotland so don't hold your breath.

The ad market is booming and Axios says all sorts of businesses are doubling down on ad sales. That means online grocers, delivery companies and gaming platforms selling ad space alongside Big Tech and, oh yes, you the media. Underlining the trend, grocery delivery firm Instacart just poached the senior Facebook exec behind the social network's mobile ad rollout.

The (once) iconic, music, entertainment and culture magazine Rolling Stone is to be published in the UK. Stream Publishing, the team behind Attitude, the UK and Europe’s best-selling LGBTQ title has signed an exclusive deal with Penske Media to launch the brand in print and online. I'm watching this one with a hopeful, but realistic eye.

This week's episode:

This week we hear from Marcela Kunova, Editor at Journalism.co.uk. We talked about what she’s hoping to achieve with her new newsroom innovation mentorship programme, how she translated Newsrewired to a virtual event, and why it’s so important for the site to support freelancers.

Esther's built herself a little studio based on your generous donations, which we're confident is going to improve the quality of our episodes. But we have plans for more events - digital and in person - and anything you can spare to help us build those new products is very gratefully received.