Forget Spotify for News. Let's Fix the Real Problem

The word 'news' makes people think about the old world and only the type of stories usually covered by traditional media. While the actual world of news, when we look at real consumption and attention time, is dominantly something very different.

The problem is not that people are saying that they are now reading between 9-15 publications each week, nor that you probably think this is a high number. Nor is it a problem that the people who likely answered are all media professionals and thus don't really represent the larger public.

The problem is that this number is way too low and likely co... See more

On YouTube, I follow about 120 different YouTube channels... regularly, every week. On Twitch, I watch some other channels. In my Inbox I get about 25 newsletters per day, and on Feedly, I follow about 100 more sources, regularly. On Twitter, we all follow a ton of different channels. For instance, I follow The Media Briefing on Twitter. And on oth... See more

For a person such as Hannah, it's far more valuable to get a few thousand people to pay her $4.99 directly than to have a shared model where she merely gets a few cents per thousand views.

It's far more valuable to 'get picked', but it's also much, much harder.

But this is the reality of the 'young creators' today. They are not talking about a Spotif... See more

On YouTube, for instance, only the biggest YouTubers are really able to make a living off the shared revenue they get from YouTube advertising. Most other YouTubers, all the ones in the middle, are forced to find other forms of income to make up the difference.

This is why we see YouTubers encourage their followers to 'support us on Patreon'. They a... See more

Mind you, there are limited models where a shared package does work. For instance, Motor Trend On Demand is a shared platform where all of Motor Trend's different publications and shows are brought into a single platform.

It works because everything on it is part of the same need. It's not random content from random publications. It's amazing conten... See more

I have seen no reliable studies that look at just how much of Facebook's engagement is actually going to traditional newspapers, but it's probably much lower than what we think. So, let's assume that 2% of Facebook's total activity in the US goes to newspapers in a comparable way to how we would define it in the past.

Now we are down to $300 million... See more

Platforms only work for creators when you can limit the number of creators on it . The platforms don't care, of course, because they make money of the total revenue, so Facebook wants as many things as possible. But for individual creators, it's not a very good idea.

When the level of abundance gets too high, the solution, as hard as it may sound, i... See more

Adriene, who is just one person, is beating the largest Yoga Magazine in the US on every single metric. She is more popular, she has a much better model, and she can charge 10 times the price. Unlike traditional publishers, she doesn't have a problem attracting young people to her channel.

So, if Yoga Journal came to me to ask: "Hey Thomas, we have ... See more