Political podcasts explode during election | Metro back in profit
And the CEO of Sweden's dominant news publisher Bonnier explains how they are seeking to grow subscribers by offering readers personalised content bundles
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 18 July.
Conscent.AI’s latest white paper, Looking Beyond Paywalls to Drive Subscription Growth, is available to download now.
Alastair Campbell oftens snipes at the pernicious influence of the "Tory press".
But the podcast he hosts along with Rory Stewart - The Rest is Politics - was probably far more influential than the Daily Mail leader column during the general election campaign. And, in my view, just as biased! It's an excellent listen but it definitely leans to the left with Campbell avowedly pro-Labour and Stewart on the left of the Conservative Party.
No one currently publishes podcast listener figures. So as well as being completely unregulated, this burgeoning sector is pretty secretive about its reach (as far as individual brands go).
But based on a recent media pack and the public figures we can see on Youtube we can tell you with confidence that The Rest Is Politics is doing stupendous numbers and (along with the even more popular The Rest Is History) is making big money for Goalhanger Podcasts and its founder Gary Lineker.
There are now around a dozen major politics podcasts publishing at least weekly content in the UK providing encouraging signs that there is a growing audience for serious news covered in a lighter more conversational way.
My former Warden Park School quiz team colleague Richard Osman recently noted that we have reached a cultural tipping point with podcasts, akin to the moment in the 2000s when all online journalism began mimicking the snarky tone of blogs like Gawker. Osman and Marina Hyde present yet another hit Goalhanger podcast, The Rest is Entertainment.
Today we also speak to the management team at Metro who are keen to explain how their title is alive and kicking despite the imminent demise of their long-time rival the Evening Standard as a print daily.
And we have an interview with the CEO of Swedish media powerhouse Bonnier News which has more than doubled its revenue to £770m over the last eight years. It owns a mixture of national, regional, magazine and business brands and is making it all work by offering readers personalised bundles of content.
The idea of a personalised content feed is behind the success of Facebook, Google Discover, TikTok and others. Bonnier’s Anders Eriksson thinks it is about time publishers got in on the act.
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New from Press Gazette
‘The first podcast election’: Political podcasts explode in run-up to polling day
Gary Lineker-owned The Rest Is Politics dominates the burgeoning political podcasts markets.
Free daily Metro now ‘very profitable’ after 2023 restructure
Metro is growing commercially even as free London rival the Evening Standard is forced to reduce its print output.
Bonnier News CEO interview: Content bundles and personalisation to boost subs
“It's about creating that long term, trustworthy relationship with the customer, which also the content is part of, and the journalist is part of that as well."
Previously on Press Gazette
From Sunak’s Nando’s order to ‘woman pulling faces’: Top publisher general election Tiktoks
Harry versus The Sun: Eight-week trial expected to start in January 2025
Australian publishers say ‘catastrophic’ if Meta follows through on news ban
Footballco unveils post-cookies ad targeting solution, ‘FC Precision’
Most Britons want online journalism ad-funded, but don’t like the ads they see
Media payments and freebies for Labour ministers: David Lammy tops the table
Our latest podcast
Bonnier News CEO on power of bundles and personalisation
Sweden’s biggest news publisher Bonnier News has more than tripled profits in the past eight years and doubled revenue.
It now believes a subscription bundle, putting together all of its Swedish brands and harnessing AI to better personalise what users see, will be the way forward for continued revenue growth.
Bonnier News chief executive Anders Eriksson told Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt about the business transformation he has overseen and the internal culture change needed to do so, why Nordic countries are ahead on subscriptions, and the thinking behind the bundle subscription strategy.