SB Nation is a publishing company that was only ever possible because of the Internet. That it has to change its model because of AB 5 shows why AB 5 is fundamentally flawed.
Regulating Demand, Ad Targeting and Unintended Consequences, Expedia CEO Out
Google’s continued dominance may not be intransigence, but rather the difficulty of regulating demand. Then, how Apple helps Google and Facebook, and Barry Diller isn’t blaming Google.
Apple News Follow-up, What Direct-to-Consumer Publishers are Selling, More on Podcasts: Supporting Cast and Kimberlite
More on why Apple News is both different than Facebook, and yet similar from a publisher perspective. Then, how publishers should think about their business — and Apple News — plus two new entrants in the podcast space.
The Cost of Apple News
Apple News is primed to offer a subscription bundle, but publishers should be wary of being Aggregated.
BuzzFeed Followup, The Future is Niche, Atlassian and Bing
BuzzFeed’s relative scale problem, and why venture capital doesn’t make sense for content, because the future is niche. Plus, important follow-up on Bing and Atlassian.
The BuzzFeed Lesson
The lesson of BuzzFeed is that dominant Aggregators like Facebook have no incentive to act against their self interest and support suppliers.
Apple Acquires Texture; The Problem with Magazines; Texture, Apple News, and Bundles
Apple acquired Texture and is taking the last, best shot at building a digital text bundle.
Lessons From Spotify
Spotify has a marginal cost problem, but while the cause is unique to Spotify, the challenges are more applicable than it seems.
The Aggregator Paradox
Google is winning with AMP and blocking ads in Chrome: both seem bad, but aren’t they actually good for consumers? That is the paradox of aggregation.
Olympics Ratings, P&G and Olympics Advertising, Total Audience Advertising
Olympic Ratings are down, but less than expected! Unfortunately for NBC, so is revenue. That, though, is expected: sports and its advertisers remain interconnected. Then, at least NBC finally figured out how to manage multiple mediums.