You Still Don’t Understand Today’s Media Industry

My content budget is finite. I only have so much time and money to indulge this very specific itch that Stratechery scratches. The other content in the bundle is extraneous. I could take it or leave it; and I can definitely substitute it with other entertainment.

Consequently, this late in the game Medium almost has no choice but to pivot into the #4 locus of value described above: “niche focus on the demand side [like] products and services that specific consumers use to accomplish specific jobs.” Thereafter, monetization is simply a question of: ‘what can we offer that’s scarce and who wants access to it?... See more

For example, theSkimm will always provide better curation for urban, millennial, working women than Medium, because the former is not only dogmatically focused on that specific niche, but also pulling-from the entire universe of content to serve them. In contrast, Medium is trying to serve everyone across every interest with highly personalized cur... See more