Tuesday 27th April: Hearst's careful planning for hybrid events

April 27, 2021

Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

As we begin to emerge from the carnage of the past year, many of you will be thinking about what your events will look like going forward. Nikki Clare, Hearst UK's Head of Events and Client Service, shared some thoughts with WNIP about what they've learned from doing events virtually over the past year, and what they're planning to do as the UK opens back up.

Of particular interest are her comments on hybrid events - seen by many as an obvious way to increase reach and revenue in the future. Hybrid events must have a clear purpose and benefit, rather than just becoming the default.

"The perceived cost of virtual being more cost-effective has been a misconception we’ve quickly unravelled at Hearst," she commented. With a hybrid event, "the costs could, in theory, be significantly more, as you’re striving to produce both a physical and virtual version of what is a premium event. Therefore, it is crucial to identify where there can be cost savings made and what elements are critical for the physical and virtual event to make it work."

Podcasts currently underperform in terms of revenue when compared to other mediums. But certainly in the US, things are beginning to pick up. With the podcast advertising market over the pond set to break $1bn this year, this piece from Press Gazette looks at the drivers behind that growth, and why some publishers' investment in podcasting is paying off.

This is a brilliant long read from The Atlantic. "Yahoo’s bad reputation may be thanks, in part, to the fact that it had such a good eye for acquisitions 15 or 20 years ago," Kaitlyn Tiffany writes. "It kept buying things that people really cared about, cool companies that could have had more interesting futures if their founders hadn’t sold them to a megacorporation that would eventually pull them from public view."

The lifespan of a subscriber is dictated almost entirely by how they perceive value in a service. Subscribers will simply cancel and churn if their expectations are not met. This piece from DCN lists some approaches to think about for publishers looking to satisfy subscribers and grow revenue.

This week's episode:

This week we hear from Gina Tonic co-founder of The Fat Zine, an independent magazine by fat people for fat people, plus those that care. We spoke about the F word, the influence of Pitch Perfect, being an activist vs being a publisher, Fat Liberation and how inside every thin person there’s a fat person dying to get out.

Catch up with this year's winning podcasts and find your next great listen. You can also read about our plans for a Summit next year. All thoughts welcome - just reply to this email!