Damn that paywall! The ideas and content worth paying for
An interactive, have-your-say edition of Antidoters
Thinking out loud this week in musings that may represent an existential threat for this embryonic blog. (And if you can’t be bothered to read on to find out why, just go play with my interactive survey here (also linked below)) .
Are you oversubscribed? Is your inbox full of random missives that once caught your interest but have failed to sustain it? No doubt many from brands looking to entice you back or maybe individuals building ‘personal brand’ and audience, seeking to stay front of mind and let’s be honest, sell you something one day.
Is that me? Relax, I haven’t decided what to sell you yet. But the entrepreneur in me, is interested in understanding the other type: the ‘premium’ ones you might actually be paying for and why. What has the ocean of free content we’re drowning in done to journalism and our ability to value, put a price on or reward good content?
Perhaps you’re old-school and one of the <7% of the UK population who still buys a physical newspaper for ‘real’ journalism. Or maybe the c.9% who pay for online journalism. There is, of course, still some professional journalism available for free: BBC, Guardian, Mail Online etc, but less and less amidst an old media bloodbath (down 15% year-on-year with 1000s of experienced journalist lay-offs).
*Copy fades to frustrating paywall pop-up just as you get to the really interesting part*.
The Joe Rogan Experience podcast (a key source of political and news commentary for many) gets 190M(!) downloads per month, multiples more than any traditional news/ political commentary channel (compare to e.g. Fox, the most watched US cable channel at 1.72M per month or BBC news monthly audience of 37.9M). The recent Tucker Carlson move from Fox to Twitter/ X journalist (where he has dramatically increased his audience, helped by Putin last week: 202M views) was the ultimate bellwether.
British journalists and ex-politicians are doing the same, leaving traditional media in droves to pursue podcasts, books and personal blogging. Not only do they regain editorial autonomy but there is huge financial opportunity here for even B or C-list influencers. A good political writer/ podcaster need only have 2000 premium subscribers on Substack to make a base income of c. £150K a year, with time around it to write books and do the talking-head circuit. Much more than a journalist salary, or fee-per-article.
We are in the midst of the great media disaggregation from news brands to commentator and/or shock-jock personal brands. Whilst there are many brilliant creators capitalising on this model and building impressive followings, it undoubtedly comes with huge ramifications for the traditional journalistic ethics of impartiality, fairness, accuracy and especially - prioritisation of facts over opinion - which has effectively reversed.
But - Antidoter klaxon - I’m not sure we’ll stay in this wild west for long. Aside from anything else, many of us are reaching saturation point for the number of creators we subscribe to, let alone pay a ‘small monthly contribution’ to. The current premium Substack model is unsustainable. c.£6/ month for a single author - albeit one whose contributions might be revelatory - or the same £6 for an aggregated media-brand newsletter of more diverse viewpoints, writing styles and experiences (albeit typically under a political or ideological-leaning umbrella).
My prediction is that within a year or two, content will start reaggregating back into powerful new media entities, many of whom might currently exist as high-following podcasts, blog and youtube channels but which will start to consolidate for premium scale and increasingly self-regulate through transparent disclosure of, and accountability for ethical standards (ok, that bit might be naive).
This has of course, already started: In the UK with the emergence of online-first entities such as Unherd, Spiked, Tortoise Media and Novara Media utilising a combination of advertiser-funded, premium subscriber and donation models. And of course there’s GB News and Talk TV, which, whilst broadcast-first, heavily leverage sound-bite social content and shock-jock tactics to enjoy large cross-platform audiences. The Substack business model has even bought back local journalism - see the success of The Mill covering Manchester news.
In the US, they’ve seen the recent rise of ‘The Free Press’ from ex-New York Times journalists (also built on Substack) and the emergence of the strong conservative-learning ‘The Daily Wire’, already a multi-million $ new media business well on its way to a wholesale kidnap of the Fox audience via slick online documentaries, multiple podcast brands and hours of fast-talking ‘X DESTROYS Y!’ video content.
So I invite you today to consider what social/ political commentary content you think is worth paying for. Because if we leave content to the algorithms and whims of the constantly hormonal attention economy, we will lose journalistic integrity and the voices of considered, thoughtful, introverted creators who are unwilling to play the shock-jock game to rally echo-chambers with affirming soundbites.
Will the ultimate winners be journalists able to embrace new media business-building or tech entrepreneurs able to learn journalistic skills and ethics? I’d love to hear from anyone on this spectrum on what I’ve got wrong or missed, not least as I’d love to think Antidoters could be much more than another 1-to-many newsletter. Ideally, an ongoing conversation involving multiple-contributors around which a community of the curious can potentially convene and converse.
If you’ve made it this far and recognise these challenges - please go one click further to this very randomly-illustrated survey that I’ve attempted to make entertaining in itself (will take <3 mins). It’s also an opportunity to suggest subject matter that you’d love to see covered on Antidoters to make it more worth your inbox time.
Further reading
Very quick read: How Monopoloy saved over 10K prisoners of war in WW2
Long listening: Highly recommend The Free Press’s podcast documentary - The Witch Trials of JK Rowling
To watch: Trust in the Things you Love (sweet and gorgeous, visually)
On holiday next week, so, for a change of tone, I’ll be recycling a silly book proposal I wrote during lock-down about something close to my Antidoter heart… Stay tuned!