There is a new offering in the subscription space: Ghost. John O’Nolan, the founder and CEO of the Ghost Foundation, explains what makes Ghost unique.
Apple App Store Changes, Google to Remove French News Excerpts, Europe Bans Content Worldwide
Apple is softening App Store lock-in by the barest amount possible. Then, Google shows its power in France, but a case against Facebook shows how limited that power is.
The Athletic Reaches 500,000 Subscribers, Brute-Forcing the Bundle, Local Bundles
The Athletic has 500,000 subscribers and continues to pursue growth over profitability. It’s an approach that makes sense, and the demise of local bundles helps explain why.
Substack Raises Series A, An Interview With Substack Co-Founders Christopher Best and Hamish McKenzie
An interview with Substack Co-Founders Christopher Best and Hamish McKenzie, who recently raised a Series A to enable newsletters from Andreessen Horowitz.
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.
ZTE and Trump, Dropbox Earnings, Bloomberg’s Paywall
The ZTE saga takes a twist, Dropbox’s first earnings are solid, and Bloomberg shows how the rich get richer.
Technologists, Politics, and Facebook; Publishers and the GDPR; Facebook and The Denver Post
Publishers are in ever more trouble, thanks to the GDPR. It increasingly seems like Facebook and Google are the inevitable saviors, for better or worse.