Wednesday 27th January: Twitter's new subscription businesses and a way out for Vice et al

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Twitter has its issues (many, many issues) - and it's soon to have issues of a different kind, as it acquires newsletter company Revue. The news, announced yesterday, is widely seen as Twitter's first foray into longform content and subscription revenue. There's some interesting synergy between the two existing services, with the Axios write-up stating "writers can expect some sort of paid compensation based on how many Twitter users they convert to subscribers."

Revue itself has been a major beneficiary of the boom in newsletter consumption. As a relatively recent start-up, this acquisition should give it the opportunity to build out its offering to hopefully compete with Substack. As Revue founder Martijn de Kuijper said: "We are also building a version of Revue for larger creators and publications... This version offers features like fully custom designs and tools to help them manage their audience, cross-promote newsletters and include subscription offers."

By and large we're fans of Twitter here at Media Voices. We would be - we're journalists. In the past we've argued that it should even be owned and operated as a public utility. Anything that helps the bird site grow and continue to act as joint social network and news wire is good news in our book. Maybe it'll even give them time to sort the rest of its problems...

We've spoken about the doldrums facing digital pureplays before. We believe that, in trying to go broad, sites like Vice Media and Mic lost the niche appeal that let them grow in the first place. The idea of consolidation between them makes sense from a scale perspective - might it also let them focus on their niche appeal again?

Marty Baron - longtime executive editor of the Washington Post - is retiring after eight years in the role. There'll be lots said about the revitalisation and reinvention of the paper during his tenure. What's more interesting is that this provides WaPo and many other titles the opportunity to hire people that don't fit the same old stale and pale mould.

Friend of Media Voices Stephen Lepitak has recently launched his own media-focused podcast, featuring more recent interviews with some of our own past guests. The latest, with the i's Oly Duff, takes the listener through the i's transformation and where its future might lie.

This week's podcast:

This week we hear from Yahoo Lifestyle’s Editor in Chief for Southeast Asia Reta Lee. We talked about her career in media and her work at Yahoo Lifestyle, including spinning up new content pillars and identifying new trends. She also discusses the opportunity for eCommerce in Asia, collaborating with teams in the US and UK, and what opportunities she’s got her eye on over the next few years.

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