The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

In our end-of-year episode, we talk through a busy year at MediaVoices, and outline what our favourite interviews from the year have been and why. Peter highlights chats with DC Thomson's Rebecca Miskin and Immediate Media's Sean Cornwell, who shared their strategies for managing disruption and transformation. "You control what you can control. You experiment as much as you can," said Miskin. "You learn from the experiments, and then you place bold bets." Esther chose a recent interview with Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization at Mediahuis. Nizet is focused on finding the answers to questions about engaging not just the next generation, but currently disengaged audiences too, which is something more publishers should have as a priority. Younger audiences will pay for games, entertainment and travel, from the latest Fortnite skin to an Instagrammable holiday. "So how can we make our news so interesting, or so relevant, or so representative for them that they want to pay for it?” Nizet asks. We also share our outlook for 2026, and why we think it's going to get worse for the industry before it gets better.

Most publishers know they should be doing more with AI, but the gap between strategy decks and the reality of nightly, weekly or even monthly publishing deadlines is huge. This is the latest in our Media Briefs series of short, sharp sponsored episodes with a senior executive from a vendor working with publishers to make their businesses better. In this episode, we hear from Jeroen Goemans, MD for EMEA at content management solutions provider WoodWing. After 25 years working with content-heavy brands, Woodwing’s publishing clients have already automated huge chunks of their production process, but they are already seeing real ROI from AI integrations in its established content and asset management platforms. This Media Briefs episode is sponsored by WoodWing. WoodWing empowers publishing ecosystems by uniting technology with deep industry expertise. For 25+ years, we’ve helped teams create, manage, and deliver content across print and digital channels with greater efficiency and consistency. Our portfolio spans multi-channel production, digital assets, quality, knowledge, and information management. Founded in 2000, we operate globally from our headquarters in the Netherlands.   Learn more about WoodWing’s AI innovations on their website: https://www.woodwing.com/solutions/content-orchestration

This week's guest is Rebecca Miskin, CEO of family-owned Scottish publisher DC Thomson. Peter caught up with Rebecca at FIPP Congress in October ahead of her presentation, titled The Gnarly Reality of Transformation. One of DC Thomson's iconic brands is The Beano, a children's comic-magazine that's been published since the 1930's. Gnarly is very much a Beano word, so Peter asked Rebecca why she describes transformation the way Dennis the Menace might, and maybe more ominously as a cross between chess and Russian Roulette. We spoke about the pressure and the privilege of working to transform a family-owned business that has a 200 year legacy, and the secrets of a successful transformation project (spoiler: it's all about people). Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

Our guest on The Publisher Podcast this week is Liesbeth Nizet, Head of Future Audiences Monetization at Mediahuis, a media group with a presence in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Luxembourg. In her role, Liesbeth is focused on next-generation audiences, and helping build future-proof business models that bridge editorial purpose and commercial potential. We talked at FIPP Congress about stereotypes around young people paying for news, to what extent demographics are helpful when understanding behaviours, and what she’s doing at Mediahuis to encourage younger audiences to engage with news content. Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

In this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Megha Garibaldi, Chief Growth Officer at The Atlantic. Megha leads the consumer revenue vertical, including consumer marketing, and she helped lead The Atlantic to its milestone of 1 million paid subscribers and reaching profitability in 2024. She spoke to Esther at FIPP Congress about the changes she’s seen in audiences’ willingness to pay over the years, the differences and similarities of working on membership and subscriber-driven publications, and where she’s looking for audience growth in the current challenging landscape. Megha also discussed the differences and similarities of marketing free versus paywalled publications from her work previously at The Guardian, and their respective member and subscriber approaches. Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

Launched on November 11th 2021, just three months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent (KI) is four years old. The award-winning English-language media outlet covers Ukraine and Eastern Europe for the rest of the world, and is celebrating its birthday with a campaign designed to boost its membership from 22,000 to 25,000 by the end of the year. This week's guest is the Kyiv Independent's Chief Operations Officer Zakhar Protsiuk. KI has reporters on the frontline of the war and an investigations unit covering Russian war crimes, but also covers Ukrainian business, culture and even travel. What struck Peter this week in speaking with Zakhar, is how focused he was on what we might consider the normal elements of building a media business. Of course we spoke about the war, but we spoke just as much about audience acquisition and retention, trust and churn.  Listen now to hear Kyiv Independent's origin story, whether it's possible to separate everyday media operations from the impacts of Russia's invasion, revenue diversification, and the brand's shift from donations to a membership model. Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media  

In this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by David Adeleke, founder and CEO of Communiqué, a media business that analyses African media and its creative economy. Communiqué started out as a newsletter, but now runs live events and publishes research about the scope of the creator economy across the continent. We last spoke with David four years ago on the podcast, and a lot has changed since he set up his newsletter as a side project. He talks to Peter about how he always wanted Communiqué to be more than a newsletter, his vision for a 'proper' media business, and how he is hiring to build a culture that can be replicated elsewhere. He also talks about community and the importance of bringing what he does online into physical spaces. Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

Over 500 media and publishing professionals gathered in the beautiful Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid to hear leading speakers discuss their strategies for thriving in today’s landscape. ChatGPT, AI overviews and traffic challenges are certainly top of mind for many delegates, but the on-stage conversations haven’t been quite as dominated by AI as we’d expected. Rather, there seems to be a doubling down on good, ‘old fashioned’ publishing principles like investing in high-quality content and products in order to secure growth. There were some really strong themes that came out across the two days - too many to include them all here - so we've focused on the top four. Hear speakers from TIME, The Economist, Hearst, Semafor, The Atlantic and more discussing transformation, new opportunities, brands vs personalities, and how they're using AI. Get a write-up of the key learnings from this episode online at voices.media or straight to your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Juliet Riddell, Head of New Formats at the Financial Times. Her focus is on telling stories using video, and she spoke to Peter following the September release of the 13-minute film, Recall Me, Maybe, written by comedian David Baddiel and starring Stephen Fry and Gemma Whelan. Juliet talks about why a news organisation like the FT is making this type of drama, the other films in the FT's Standpoint series, and the power of external collaborations in bringing new perspectives to big issues. Get a write-up of the key learnings from this interview online at voices.media or straight to your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Simon Freeman, Publisher at Like the Wind, a quarterly print magazine dedicated to exploring the culture, history and social issues in the world of running. They are also a blueprint for sustainable indie magazine publishing. Simon spoke to Peter as part of the research and writing for Inside the Print Revival, our report on why print magazines are making headlines again. In this episode, Simon talks about 'niche-ification'; how it's okay that not every runner is a potential Like the Wind reader, how social media helps sell magazines as a marketing tool, but also as a catalyst for readers returning to analogue media.  Download our free report exploring the print revival here.

From conceptualization to execution, Crowdfindervideo's Simon Elliott shares his expertise on what makes video work for magazine publishers, providing valuable insights and practical tips for industry professionals. In this video podcast, recorded live at the Publisher Podcast Summit, Peter Houston and Simon Elliott discuss the significant benefits of video podcasting for publishers, emphasising its role in audience growth and revenue generation. They explore the importance of building a structured video production process, the necessity of effective storytelling, and the challenges faced during the 'pivot to video'. Practical tips for starting a video podcast, editing content and enhancing viewer engagement are also shared, along with insights on how to present oneself confidently on camera. Watch the video podcast here. This video podcast episode was produced in partnership with Crowdfindervideo. You want the audience growth and engagement that come with video and audio but don’t have the hours in the day? Crowdfindervideo clients make the decisions on their content but we do the production work. We deliver the audio, video and social assets that turn your ideas into a consistent, multi-platform presence. We'll also do the thumbnails and show notes. We can even upload for clients.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Sean Cornwell, CEO of Immediate Media. Sean will be speaking to Colin Morrison at our November AI Forum in London, discussing what AI means to Immediate. There are still tickets left but we're anticipating selling out, so head here to book and for more info on speakers and Masterclasses. Immediate is something of a ray of hope amidst all the AI gloom. Over the last few years, the business - led by Sean - has looked really hard for ways to make AI work to its advantage. Sean and Peter talk about optimism and how important it is to focus on the things you can control, the role of real human beings in content creations, and how to bring those humans along on the AI journey. Peter asks (of course) where print fits into all this. Sean is speaking at The Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information & Events on Tuesday 25th November. It's a one-day event from Flashes & Flames and MediaVoices explaining, discussing and projecting the impact of AI on content creation, discoverability, marketing and management in news media, lifestyle, business information and events companies.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Mel McVeigh, Head of Digital at the Professional Publisher's Association (PPA). Mel has been at the PPA for the last 18 months, and her role is to support digital thinking within the organisation and its members. Mel recently worked with Enders Analysis on a report - Consumers, creators, and brands: Rewriting the media playbook. The report aims to help publishers with their plans around technology investments, as well as provoke and challenge them to think about how they're going to innovate in the long-term. Peter and Mel talk about the challenges technology brings and whether the website is really dying, but also the reasons to be cheerful, like the sustained trust enjoyed by magazine brands. She talks about platforms, processes, and product thinking, as well as the importance of editorial intuition. Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, People Inc. CEO Neil Vogel talks about the power of print - as long as you're not sentimental about scale - how advertising is very much alive, and why Google is 'the worst guy' when it comes to publishers and AI. He also discusses the rebranding from Dotdash Meredith and why it's important to have a name which resonates with human experiences. This episode is produced in partnership with FIPP, who are 100 years old this year. With only 25 tickets remaining, this is the final opportunity to secure your place at the FIPP World Media Congress 2025 – the premier global event bringing together the foremost leaders, innovators, and strategists from across the international media landscape. Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode, Peter Houston interviews Irene Smit, the co-founder of Flow Magazine. As you’ll see from this episode’s title Irene’s founding philosophy for the mag was that of paper over print. What’s the distinction? Well, for Irene print is effectively a vector for information – it’s commodity news, or glossy lifestyle features, or whathaveyou. It is 99% of what’s on newsstands. By contrast paper is an experience, and she tells Peter about what drove her to mix and match types of paper within the same magazine. She also tells us about how the magazine changed hands between publishing companies, what that taught her about the pros and cons of being an indie title supported by a larger operation, and how the magazine came out of the other side of those transitions stronger for it. Irene will be speaking at Magazine Street in a few weeks time on 3rd October. If you want to be there, use the code MV75 for £75 off tickets, which you can book at internationalmagazinecentre.com. Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more. Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com. This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher Newsletter Summit where Reach plc’s Audience and Content Director Jenna Thompson discussed why they looked to Substack for new newsletter launches, and what they’ve learned over the past two years of free and paid experiments. Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media.   

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more. Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com. This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher Newsletter Summit where The Economist’s Andrew Palmer and Dominic Rech and the Financial Times’ Sarah Ebner joined Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobitt to discuss personality-powered newsletters – the good and the bad. Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media.   

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more. Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher App Summit - Pugpig, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their apps to the next level at publishersummits.com. This episode features a fantastic panel from the Publisher App Summit where Hearst UK’s Emma Peagam and Stylist’s Felicity Thistlethwaite joined Esther Thorpe on stage to talk about how games and added extras help enhance relationships with their subscribers, and boost those all-important retention rates.

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more. Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher Newsletter Summit - Passendo and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their newsletters to the next level at publishersummits.com. This episode features two sessions from the Publisher Newsletter Summit exploring pop-up and limited run newsletters. Publishers are seeing success with pop-up and limited run newsletters, from educational courses to sporting events and elections. But what happens to subscribers to a pop-up newsletter after the newsletter has run its course? Katie Binns, Deputy editor at Times Money Mentor, a free personal finance section of the Times brand, explains in the first session how they nurture subscribers to two of their hugely successful pop-up newsletters, Couch to £5k and Pension Power Up, after the series has ended. The next session is from Neil Macdonald, Head of Newsletters at National World. In January, National World brand The Scotsman launched Scottish Golf Courses You Must Play, their first ever paid, limited-edition series newsletter. Neil shares the learnings from putting together and launching an evergreen newsletter series, and how it’s going six months in. Get the learnings from this episode written up in article form straight into your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter at voices.media. 

This is the latest in a series of sessions from The Publisher Summits, which were held in June. The Summits covered four product areas across 2 days in London, from newsletters and print to apps and podcasts, featuring speakers from The Economist and the FT to Reach, National World, Grazia and more. Thanks to the sponsors of the Publisher App Summit - Pugpig, and Syno. Find out more about them and how they help publishers take their apps to the next level at publishersummits.com. This episode features a session with Muj Ali, Group Product Manager of Acquisition, Retention and Apps at the Financial Times. He talks about where the app fits in at the FT in terms of the subscriber funnel, how they’ve adapted what they publish to people’s mobile browsing habits, and why the app is increasingly proving itself to be one of the FT’s most vital retention tools.