Welcome to December! That also means it's time for our annual report launch. Join us and a fantastic panel of experts at 11am ET / 4pm GMT. Today's newsletter is brought to you by Esther.

Does TikTok create a second Pivot to Video? — www.amediaoperator.com

With TikTok having a bit of a moment right now, could publishers do it all wrong again? This is the question A Media Operator writer Jacob Donnelly looks to answer this week. And he does an excellent job.

With BuzzFeed signing an annual deal to create shows on TikTok, lots of publishers are asking what success actually looks like for video on the platform. No one wants to fall into the trap of 'building for whatever the platform deems success to be'. That's what got us burned by Facebook.

"Always take the check," he quotes Jon Steinberg as saying. "But you are never getting another check, so you either take the check and staff it in a way that you can do it and shut it down without hurting your people, or you figure out a way to make it self-sustainable."

Substack targets the UK, and hires away Elle editor-in-chief — onemanandhisblog.com

'Tell the British we're coming', wrote Hamish McKenzie ominously in his letter announcing their push to bring more UK-based writers to Substack. The most surprising of their new writers is Elle Editor-in-Chief Farrah Storr, who is giving up a 22-year career in magazines in order to help all writers make money from their work (!). Adam Tinworth explores why the newsletter company has chosen an ex-magazine journo, and what that means for their UK expansion.

Staff at magazine publisher Future to share in £10m bonus pot — www.theguardian.com

Happy news if you're currently a Future employee: you'll be receiving a minimum bonus of £2,250 each as part of a total pot estimated to be around £10 million. This is due to 'expectation-busting revenues and profits for the year'. Future's end-of-year results were released yesterday, which saw the publisher reporting a doubling of profit before tax to £107.8 million, and a whopping 79% increase in revenues. Drinks are on you, Future!

Why 18 Australian news minnows (and a billionaire’s charity) are clubbing together for big tech negotiations — pressgazette.co.uk

Our concern with Google negotiating payments individually with publishers has always been that those smaller organisations, who don't have the clout to be able to negotiate effectively, end up losing out. But this week's formation of the Public Interest Publishers Alliance - formed of 18 small Australian news publishers - aims to change that. Expect to see more of these popping up wherever Google News' licensing deals have been made.

This week's podcast:

Executive Editor of Noema magazine Kathleen Miles on publishing in an intellectual niche — voices.media

Noema is a magazine looking at some of the biggest issues of the 21st century – AI, the climate crisis, the future of democracy and capitalism. Its Executive Editor Kathleen Miles tells us about the challenges of publishing into a potentially exclusive niche.

Launch event: Media Moments 2021 — voices.media

Join Media Voices, What’s New in Publishing and Sovrn in a virtual event TODAY to launch this year’s Media Moments report. Brian Morrissey, Charlotte Tobitt, Prof Lucy Kueng and Dominic Perkins are joining us to discuss how publishers have fared this year and how they can navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2022. It's free! And you get a copy of the report sent to you directly afterwards. What's not to love.