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Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson on paywalls, print and profit
One of our favourite publishing people from one of our favourite publishing brands has been speaking with Press Gazette. We talk about the Atlantic’s subscription success regularly, and in this interview Nick Thompson he talks about how his strategy has evolved since becoming CEO early last year.
Most interestingly, predictions of a million subscribers have given way to a revenue target of $50 million. The Trump Slump has meant the 1 million milestone could be a big ask, but Thompson says he’s now less interested in subscriber headcounts than the revenue generated.
“We charge roughly $50 a subscription,“ he explains. “You can get to a million subs pretty easily – you can massively discount, right? If you set a goal solely on subscribers, it can move you in some harmful ways. My hope is that we’ll get to $50 million in [reader] revenue, and if not this year, then next.”
How publishers are using read-it-later apps like Pocket to boost page views
Read-it-later apps are gaining traction with publishers looking for new ways to distribute content to regular readers. In this piece, What’s New In Publishing takes a look at how Pocket has increased reader engagement for publishers from corporates like Fast Company and Inc. to smaller independents like science publisher Nautilus. It reports that Pocket accounts for 21% of its monthly traffic.
Haymarket doubles annual profits
Revenue diversification has paid off for Haymarket. The privately held publisher is reporting annual profits of more than £16.5 million, up more than £8 million on last year. Half the company’s £147 million revenue came from the US. Chief exec Kevin Costello said the company’s “ongoing obsession” with diversification of revenues had led to its best ever performance in the US and a significant leap in profit.
With $15 billion in advertising, Microsoft solidifies its position in digital’s ‘Big 4’
Maybe this shows my age, but I thought Microsoft sold software. Turns out they’re the world’s fourth biggest advertising sales outfit, behind Google, Facebook and Amazon. As well as Bing, Edge ecommerce comparison features and the acquisition of the Xander ad platform, LinkedIn is doing well from post-pandemic job switching. Who knew?
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