Tuesday 30th April: The risk of losing people in the newsletter world has declined

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The Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Summits are the only events in the UK dedicated to levelling-up podcasts and newsletters from publishers. Learn from leading media brands and successful start-ups on what it takes to produce podcasts, grow newsletters, and work both into a wider strategy. Join us in London on June 12th for a full day of practical learning, workshops and case studies, followed by the Publisher Podcast Awards in the evening.

If you haven’t listened to our bonus episode with Nicholas Thompson, CEO at The Atlantic, you need to get it on your list. This wide-ranging conversation is a great insight into how he is approaching the chief exec role.

If you don’t have time to listen to the whole interview right now, Esther has zoomed in on The Atlantic’s newsletter strategy, wondering why she hasn’t heard much about its plan to bring a collection of Substack newsletters inside its paywall since it was announced in 2021. “That may help explain how that's gone,” Thompson told her.

He explained: “Ultimately, it was something where we put a lot of thought, a decent amount of time, a small amount of money, and it ended up breaking even. And we just then minimised it. The reason we didn’t quadruple the programme… is that the risk of losing people in the newsletter world has declined.”

So it begins. Press Gazette is reporting that The Financial Times has become the first major UK-based news publisher to announce a content licensing deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI. It absolutely won’t be the last, but for now the FT has joined a select group that includes Axel Springer, Associated Press and Le Monde in giving OpenAI access to content in return for cash. Beyond the bucks, FT Group chief executive John Ridding is looking for insight. He said, “It recognises the value of our award-winning journalism and will give us early insights into how content is surfaced through AI.” A case of keeping your enemies closer?

Meanwhile, Le Monde in English has failed to achieve its early subscription targets. The French news publisher launched its English-language edition two years ago, with the goal of generating 30,000 subscribers by the end of last year, but it has fallen short of that number, although it won’t say by how much. The company has a new goal though, to secure 1 million subscribers overall by 2025. With the Olympics in Paris this year, maybe Le Monde in English could have a part to play in hitting that revised target. 🤷

This is my favourite print reboot story. No billionaires, no BS. Just someone who loves the subject, loves the magazine and wanted to bring its best bits back to print. CEO Craddock told Samir Husni: “I went into food because I read SAVEUR. After we stopped printing, every single day, somebody told us that they wanted it to come back. I don’t like hearing from the industry that since people want digital now, they by default aren’t going to want print. I feel I have this kind of personal mission to prove that theory wrong.” Hell yes!!!

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