Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Esther. Just a quick note to remind you that if you know a great publisher podcast, or want to nominate a talented podcast hero, entries for this year's Publisher Podcast Awards close this Friday.

InPickleball Magazine: Celebrating & enforcing the joy of the game. A Q&A with the man behind the magazine — mrmagazine.wordpress.com

From the CEO of a media company to president of media sales at a national media group of the largest magazine media company in the world, Richard Porter has done it all and he is not done yet. Samir Husni talks to the InPickleball founder about launching a full 'media brand' around the magazine.

Given Porter's packed CV, this is unsurprisingly an insightful interview. One point which I thought was especially interesting was when he was asked about the 'print problem'.

"Part of the print problem is simple: Today, many ad agencies have great expertise in digital, video, social, data, etc. — ten years ago the leaders at those agencies had great print experience and passion for the medium," he explained. "Finding those knowledgeable advocates …. well, there are fewer of them, so the advertising decline can be a spiral….fewer resources evaluating/recommending the medium will lead to fewer magazines, leading to fewer resources, and around we go…."

LadBible’s first e-commerce live broadcast comes off the back of TikTok partnership — www.thedrum.com

Hosted on the @ladbible TikTok account, the two-day live shopping event "makes buying fun" by offering participants exclusive offers and discounts from popular brands, served against a backdrop of entertainment from creators and musicians. I guess this is the ultimate in being 'down with the kids'.

Vox Media, Group Nine Media in advanced talks to merge — www.wsj.com

In an end-of-year M&A curveball, it turns out Vox Media and Group Nine have been discussing a merger. At the moment, the deal would be an all-stock transaction that would give Vox Media 75% ownership of the combined company, with the remaining 25% going to Group Nine. The combined company is expected to generate more than $700 million in revenue in 2022, which would make it one of the biggest players in the space.

New York Times reconsiders buying The Athletic — frontofficesports.com

...and another one! Six months after talks stalled, The New York Times has apparently re-emerged as a potential buyer of The Athletic. This was one of the acquisitions that seemed like it made sense for both companies, although the sticking point was price: The Athletic has a valuation of about $500 million, but was seeking as much as $800 million in a sale. It has yet to turn a profit.

This week's podcast:

The Big Issue UK Editor Paul McNamee on making every aspect of the magazine necessary — voices.media

UK Editor of The Big Issue Paul McNamee tells us about the Big Issue’s Breakthrough scheme, paying disadvantaged young people to get into journalism. He also talks about why the magazine needed a redesign to make everything important and necessary, working with designer Matt Willey, their relationship with subscribers, digital-first news and balancing campaigning with making a properly entertaining magazine.

New report: Media Moments 2021 — voices.media

We've kept on top of all the key media news for the year and rounded it all up in one handy report. From subscriptions to NFTs, recap the media moments of 2021, and most importantly, the implications for publishers going forward. It's free to download as well!