Good morning! Here to start your week is Esther's roundup of media stories.

How publishers are getting around the branded content slump — www.thedrum.com

As the pandemic cuts into publishers’ revenue streams from every angle, branded content divisions have gone from prize products to problem children. Global spend on digital branded content was supposed to hit $13.4 billion this year, but that hasn't happened.

This piece from John McCarthy looks at what went wrong with the branded content opportunities earlier this year and why publishers like CNN, the Telegraph and The Atlantic ended up cutting the 'storytelling' teams that produced branded content.

He also talks to some publishers who are finding ways around the slump. Hearst UK and BuzzFeed Europe are seeing growth and briefs coming in for Q4 as brands look to get more active in time for Christmas (how is it nearly that time of year already).

With many of the pandemic's impacts, the question for publishers now is which areas are likely to recover. With no end to the pandemic in sight and a long winter indoors for many of us, good content will be more in demand than ever. And where there is demand for content, publishers are ideally placed to capture that revenue again.

Axios is growing and profitable despite bleak news landscape — www.wsj.com

Axios is on target to make a profit this year despite the pandemic-induced economic turmoil that led to broad layoffs and pay cuts at many media outlets. The most staggering thing about this is that newsletter sponsorships are contributing more than 50% of the company's total revenue (so around $30 million). 'Smart brevity' really does pay...

The fall of Troy Young at Hearst Magazines — nymag.com

Hearst hired a belligerent leader to disrupt its magazine business. Then fired him mid-disruption after allegations of sexual harassment. Now it’s left with — what, exactly? Chris recommended this piece in this week's podcast, so here it is for your own reading pleasure.

Starved for time and privacy, India’s women are finding refuge in podcasts — qz.com

Something a little bit different to finish. Traditionally, women in India have had limited access to news and entertainment. But audio is ready and waiting to offer them a chance to access information and entertainment without disrupting routines. A thoughtful piece about the meteoric rise of podcasts in India.

This week's podcast:

The Week Junior Editor in Chief Anna Bassi on why a print magazine for kids is growing strongly — voices.media

This week, we hear from Anna Bassi, Editor in Chief of The Week Junior. They’ve had a milestone couple of months, recently releasing their 250th issue and increasing circulation during lockdown by 22% year on year. She talks about why a print magazine for children is doing so well in 2020, how they approach really difficult topics like protests and pandemics, and how their podcast is doing a year on.

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