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

How a podcast for entrepreneurial parents generates $200,000 a year — simonowens.substack.com

I want to preface this by saying 'only around 2,000 downloads per episode' is not a low number. According to Buzzsprout, if you get more than 700 downloads in the first week, you're in the top 5% of podcasts. We need to reset our expectations for 'normal' podcast numbers.

Anyway, moving on! This is nonetheless an interesting case study in podcast monetisation. The Startup Parent podcast host Sarah Peck sells sponsorships, but the real money maker is the Wise Women's Council, an intense six-month 'leadership incubator' geared towards entrepreneurial mothers.

Simon Owens draws out some really good lessons from her interview, including how to design high-priced products, engaging a small audience, and the limitations she faces as a parent herself with small children.

Lessons from award-winning podcasts: The Atlantic’s Vann Newkirk — voices.media

Talking of good podcasts...the winner of the incredibly competitive Best Limited Series award in 2021’s Publisher Podcast Awards was Floodlines from The Atlantic. Peter spoke to The Atlantic’s Vann Newkirk, staff writer and host of the series. He talked about how the idea for a podcast focused on Hurricane Katrina came about, what their process was for collecting the interviews and going deep into the topic, and the role of music in enhancing the narration.

"We have to work as if print did not exist": Interview with Editorial Development Director of Bonnier News — thefix.media

Bonnier News, the largest media house in Sweden, decided in 2015-2016 to make reader revenue its primary source of income by building digital loyalty, developing complex digital paywall solutions, and increasing investments in digital quality. The Fix's Teona Sekhniashvili catches up with them to find out how it's going in a nation which has some of the highest willingness to pay for online content.

BuzzFeed fumbled, but it's still early days — www.amediaoperator.com

It's sometimes tricky to pick through all the hype around BuzzFeed's SPAC and work out what's actually going on. This is an excellent summary which puts in context the optimism of their investor pitch, why they've come in so low, and why it's still a blessing they went public despite disappointing quarterly results. Jacob also outlines the tough reality of the news business for a newer player like BuzzFeed.

This week's episode:

The Hustle Senior Editor Zachary Crockett on creating a Sunday reading experience via email — voices.media

This week we hear from The Hustle’s Principle Reporter and Sunday Editor Zachary Crockett. He talks about his career path working across radio, newsletters, journalism and data, how he makes must-read long-form Sunday issues for The Hustle’s business audience, and launching a daily podcast.

Join us at The Publisher Podcast Awards — publisherpodcastawards.com

On the evening of Wednesday 27th April, we’ll be celebrating the best podcasts in publishing at a ceremony in Proud Cabaret City in London. It's going to be a great evening, so even if you aren't shortlisted, do come and join us for the celebrations. We've just welcomed Affino on board as a Silver sponsor too!

Every time someone shares this newsletter, we see a little lift in subscribers, which makes us very happy (and helps us keep going). If you can take two minutes to recommend The Media Roundup to a colleague or on social media, it really does make a difference. Thank you.