The Publisher Podcast by Media Voices

Media Voices
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A weekly podcast and newsletter profiling the people and products powering publishing.

  1. Axios Local's Liz Alesse on shaping the business to crack sustainable local journalism at scale

    1D AGO

    Axios Local's Liz Alesse on shaping the business to crack sustainable local journalism at scale

    In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Liz Alesse, Vice President and General Manager of Axios Local. She is responsible for building and scaling Axios' local journalism business as a sustainable national platform. Liz talks about how Axios Local has evolved since launching five years ago, and what they've learned about scaling with market-specific models rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. She emphasises the importance of their reporters as brand ambassadors and key anchors for areas, citing talent as one of the primary factors for expanding into a market. Axios Local has yet to turn a profit, but Liz is bullish on their prospects for cracking sustainable local journalism at scale, discussing their revenue diversification strategy and how AI has become a force multiplier for them. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    40 min
  2. Bustle's Charlotte Owen on ditching the 'everything for everyone' era

    MAY 11

    Bustle's Charlotte Owen on ditching the 'everything for everyone' era

    In this episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Charlotte Owen, Executive Vice President at BDG and Editor-in-Chief of Bustle. Bustle is a female-focused media brand aimed at 20-30 year olds who want to live a big life. Charlotte talks about the importance of niche targeting over broad appeal, how the generalist era being over has helped editors hone in on points of view, and how they leverage social media.  She also discusses why Bustle and BDG more widely are seeing revenue growth of 40% and 25% respectively, in a market that other women's brands are finding tough. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    47 min
  3. Global South World's Ismail Akwei on building a creator-led news network across continents

    MAY 4

    Global South World's Ismail Akwei on building a creator-led news network across continents

    In the latest episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Ismail Akwei, Editor of Global South World. Global South World is a news brand with a mission to build a more informed and nuanced understanding of the Global South, counteracting parachute journalism and condescension with news and opinion from a network of journalists and creators that actually live across Asia, Africa and South America. Akwei talks about commentary from Western leaders about countries in the Global South, and the issues with minimising whole continents to one negative news story. He also discussed what works well for content distribution, data visualisation, and building active communities, as well as how their creator-led news network approach works in practice. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    39 min
  4. Variety's Dea Lawrence on turning a legacy publication into a cultural brand

    APR 27

    Variety's Dea Lawrence on turning a legacy publication into a cultural brand

    In the latest episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Dea Lawrence, Publisher and Co-President of Variety. Variety has transformed from a B2B pure play to a hybrid business and consumer publication. It still does 70,000 copies a week in print for the industry people who are super keen to see themselves on the cover, but online it reaches millions of passionate entertainment fans. Dea talks about how Variety has weathered the disruption in the entertainment industry itself, the increasing importance of international creators and audiences, and why everything is a content and sponsorship opportunity. She also explains to Peter why microdramas are the next big thing. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    41 min
  5. Semafor's Ben Smith on how the start-up has evolved to thrive in a challenging market

    APR 20

    Semafor's Ben Smith on how the start-up has evolved to thrive in a challenging market

    In this episode of our spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by Ben Smith, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Semafor. Ben has previously worked at publications like the New York Times and Buzzfeed, before joining Justin Smith to co-found Semafor in 2022. The publication, which distills the news for global audiences, has launched industry-leading events, pioneered their own article format, and reached profitability in its third year. Ben spoke to us about how their audience and approach has evolved since launch, where they see opportunities and red lines for AI, where he sees paid content fitting into their business model, and how their exclusive CEO newsletter is going. He also shares his advice for anyone looking at launching a news start-up today. Read the key takeaways from this interview, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    29 min
  6. Faversham House's Amanda Barnes on transforming to a modern ecosystem-driven B2B publisher

    APR 13

    Faversham House's Amanda Barnes on transforming to a modern ecosystem-driven B2B publisher

    Welcome back to the spring 2026 season of The Publisher Podcast! This week's guest is Faversham House CEO Amanda Barnes. Faversham House is an independent UK B2B media, information and events company with brands across two main sectors: utilities and sustainability. Amanda led a management buyout of the family-owned publisher in 2010. Since then, the organisation has moved away from traditional ad-funded, print-led titles to online information, marketing solutions, subscriptions and events. Amanda joined us on The Publisher Podcast to talk through how she led the business through those early stages of transformation, how Covid accelerated some of their more recent changes, and why the idea of brand ecosystems is vital for the next stages.  Amanda Barnes will be speaking at Monetising B2B Information & Events 2026 on a panel about events and information strategies. Join us at Stationers’ Hall, London on 13th May but hurry - there are only a few tickets remaining.

    43 min
  7. Turning readers into subscribers: top tips for converting via newsletters

    MAR 23

    Turning readers into subscribers: top tips for converting via newsletters

    In the last episode of this season of The Publisher Podcast from Media Voices, we're bringing you a panel from our last Publisher Summit, all about strategies for converting newsletter readers into paying subscribers. This panel featured Henry Seltzer, Director of Newsletter Operations at Bloomberg, Joshi Herrmann, Founder at Mill Media, and Rosie Percy, Newsletter Strategy Director at Hearst UK, moderated by Chris Sutcliffe. Henry, Joshi and Rosie explored tips and tools used to convert free newsletter subscribers to a paying product, from testing and optimisation to campaigns and messaging. Early Bird booking for this year’s Publisher Summit is now open. We’ll be holding the Summit on July 8th at a really cool venue near Paddington in London, with a single main stage focused on direct-to-audience product strategies. If you’re specifically interested in newsletters or podcasts though, we’re shaping the agenda so you can sit on a relevant main stage session, then step out for dedicated workshops, so there will always be something valuable to get involved with. The Summit will take place before the Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Awards in the evening, both of which are now open for entries. More details about tickets, entering the Awards, and all this at voices.media/events.

    33 min

  8. MAR 15

    Informa's Alex Roth on their three-pronged approach to AI

    Welcome to this special season of The Publisher Podcast, bringing you the best sessions from the Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information and Events, which we held with Flashes & Flames in London. This week’s episode features Alex Roth, Strategy Director for Informa Plc the second biggest B2B company based in the UK, and the biggest B2B events business in the world.  Alex spoke about how Informa is focussing on how AI can improve ways of working, product development, especially around data insights, and how it supports discovery, helping Informa’s audiences find and access content.     He spoke about redesigning processes to incorporate AI has driven progress, the development of an internal app store and an app builder agent to avoid overloading the company’s central AI team, and how focus is the key to taking on AI.  Read the key takeaways from this session, find our weekly newsletter and more on voices.media

    19 min
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