The Future of Media, Explained - from Press Gazette
Press Gazette has covered the world of news media since 1965. This podcast draws on the expertise of our award-winning team and brings in expert voices to explain one theme, idea, strategy or innovation every week.The Future of Media Explained aims to provide industry leaders with the information they need to create commercially successful businesses based on quality content. If you need to know about topics like: cookie-less targeting, data journalism, paywall strategies, content management systems, new publishing revenue strategies and audience growth tactics - then this is the podcast for you. It also aims to provide insight into the...
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Ben Smith on building a $40m turnover news business in three years
<p>Media start-up Semafor reached profitability in 2025 with revenue of $40m, in the third full year after its October 2022 launch.</p><br><p>Co-founder and editor-in-chief Ben Smith joined Press Gazette’s UK editor Charlotte Tobitt in London to discuss how the business became an overnight success in a difficult climate for media overall.</p><br><p>Smith discussed Semafor’s expansion plans, why its initial bet on video didn’t work out, why it still doesn’t have a paywall, and shared his advice for other media business founders.</p><p > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...
Prince Harry versus tabloids: The final showdown
<p>Prince Harry is facing the publisher of the Daily Mail in what is set to be one Britain's biggest ever privacy trials.</p><p>Costs for both sides could top £40m.</p><p>Harry has accused the Mail of commissioning burglary, phone tapping and voicemail interception. The Mail denies everything and accuses Prince Harry's legal team of using cash payments to witnesses to bolster their case.</p><p>Dominic Ponsford looks back to the News of the World front page in 2008 which started the war on UK tabloids which has raged since then.</p><p>He also discusses the q...
The rise of paywalls in the regional press with MEN editor Sarah Lester
<p>Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt speaks to Manchester Evening News editor Sarah Lester shortly after the UK's biggest regional newsbrand added a premium paywall to its website.</p><br><p>The conversation also covers frustrations with Google, the role of the editor in 2025, the threat of fake experts degrading journalists' relationship with PRs, and more.</p><p > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p>
How to stop working for your CMS and make it work for you
<p>Dominic Ponsford talks to WP Engine director of product management Jason Konen and CTO of Bigbite Jason Agnew about the future of content management.</p><p>They are both experts in the deployment of WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. They talked about some of the ways publishers are responding to falling referral traffic by making their websites more immersive and community-focused.</p><p>They also talked about the ways AI is being used to streamline content production and remove complexity in journalists’ lives.</p><p>And they have an interesting debate the importance of ensuring your...
Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips on life after Google
<p>Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt speaks to Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips about how the US business brand has changed tack in response to massive changes in the way Google refers traffic to publishers.</p><p>She said: "I think a lot of publishers were in the same spot, or still are in the same spot. And so for us, it's getting back to those core communities and those businesses and our editorial journalism that we take pride in and protect. And so how do we look at that in new revenue models?</p><p>"And as the business...
Turmoil at The Telegraph, trouble at The Times | Misinformation and the Huntington train stabbings
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford and UK editor Charlotte Tobitt discuss the latest front in the Telegraph ownership battle, the publication of fake interviews on The Times, and the threat from social media misinformation in the wake of serious incidents like the stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire.<p > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p>
Optimising programmatic advertising: What publishers need to know
<p>Advertising has funded journalism and kept the lights on for democracy since the steam age.</p><p>But in recent years many publishers have pulled away from relying so heavily on automated programmatic advertising as way of funding free online news.</p><p>In this episode (sponsored by Assertive Yield) the company’s chief operating office Sherzod Rizaev explains some of the challenges publisher face extracting value from an advertising ecosystem filled with intermediaries all taking a cut.</p><p>He says publishers don’t have to passively accept declining revenue but can increase their market share by taking back...
The race to video with Goalhanger's Jack Davenport
<p>Whatever medium publishers started out on, many are now racing towards Youtube and other online video platforms as the fastest growing source of both audience and revenue.</p><br><p>Goalhanger co-founder Jack Davenport joined Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford to discuss this phenomenon alongside consultant Connie Krarup of Q5 Partners. </p><br><p>He revealed how the producer of hit shows such as The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Politics now sees itself as a video production company more than an audio producer and explained why podcasts is now a term eschewed by the high-ups at...
Personalisation is paying off for Hamburger Morgenpost
<p>Hamburger Morgenpost head of product Dana Schluenzen tells Dominic Ponsford how offering readers a personalised selection of homepage stories has paid off with higher click-throughs and more returning visitors. This podcast also features insights from the CEO of website personalisation specialists Kilkaya, Tarjei Gilbrant.</p><br><p>This episode is sponsored by Kilkaya.</p><p > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p>
Why The Economist isn't doing deals with OpenAI
<p>Unlike many publishers, The Economist has chosen not to do any licensing deals with the likes of OpenAI - but isn't looking to sue them either.</p><br><p>The Economist's president Luke Bradley-Jones appeared at Press Gazette's Future of Media Technology Conference in London and explained how the brand is adapting for a "post-search world", including by launching one of its newsletters on Substack.</p><p > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.</p>
