100 episodes

The podcast about how publishers create, distribute, and monetize digital content.

The Business of Content Simon Owens, tech and media journalist

    • News
    • 4.8 • 28 Ratings

The podcast about how publishers create, distribute, and monetize digital content.

    How Andreas Sator built one of the most popular podcasts in Austria

    How Andreas Sator built one of the most popular podcasts in Austria

    My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/
     
    I spend most of my time on this show interviewing entrepreneurs who founded English-language media outlets – mostly because that’s the only language I speak – but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in the media ecosystems from other regions in the world. That’s why I was super excited to talk to Andreas Sator, the host of one of the most popular podcasts in Austria.
     
    Andreas got his start at a major newspaper, and after a few years at the outlet, he got to experiment with writing an explainer journalism column about personal finances. He found this sort of reporting to be much more enjoyable, so in 2018 he launched a podcast that roughly translates to “Explain The World to Me.”
     
    In our interview, we discussed the Austrian podcast market, how he monetizes the podcast, and why he decided to launch a new show about climate change.
     

    • 44 min
    How to grow your audience in a post-Facebook world

    How to grow your audience in a post-Facebook world

    My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/
     
    Earlier this month, I sent a newsletter to my audience with the subject line: “Ask me a question.” Basically I told everyone to jump into the comments section of the post and ask me any questions they have about the media industry or creator economy.
     
    Several of you did pipe in with some amazing questions. I then invited on Alexis Grant, the founder of They Got Acquired, to help me answer them.
     
    We answered questions on a range of topics like:
     
    Which media companies are succeeding with native advertising
    The best ways for media outlets to run live events
    How to grow your audience in a world where Google and Facebook are sending less and less traffic
    What a Substack advertising platform would look like.
     

    • 1 hr 2 min
    How William Knight built Early Morning Media, a B2B newsletter company

    How William Knight built Early Morning Media, a B2B newsletter company

    Before William Knight launched Early Morning Media, he had worked for years at a company that specialized in sending press clippings to corporate clients. While these services were mostly utilized by a client’s internal communications team, William realized at some point that these same news curation practices would be appreciated by an external audience.
     
    So in 2011, he launched B2B newsletters covering multiple industries. At first, these newsletters were monetized mostly through paid subscriptions, but as the company expanded he began to roll out free, ad-supported newsletters as well. Today, Early Morning Media operates over a dozen newsletters that are read by 500,000 industry professionals.
     
    In our interview, William discussed the company’s origin story, its method for curating news, and the decision process for launching a new newsletter.
     

    • 48 min
    How Tom Arbuthnot built Empowering Cloud, a media comapany focused on Microsoft cloud products

    How Tom Arbuthnot built Empowering Cloud, a media comapany focused on Microsoft cloud products

    My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ 
     
    The rise of cloud computing introduced all sorts of benefits for the enterprise software space. Not only could license holders access their accounts from virtually anywhere, but it also allowed the software companies to issue updates on a more regular basis. But this also made the sector a lot more complicated and created a need for more experts who could educate cloud software customers about the intricacies of the tools.
     
    Tom Arbuthnot is one of those experts. For over a decade, he’s been a Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Certified Master, and he spent a significant amount of time in the early 2010s educating the public about these products through blogging and conference talks. But then in early 2022 he realized that there was a market opportunity for a media company to cover these products. That year, he launched Empowering Cloud, an online community that produces a mixture of videos, live calls, and other educational materials centered around Microsoft’s cloud technology.
     
    In my interview with Tom, we talked about the site’s launch, how he finds sponsors, and why he decided to lock most of the company’s content inside a community platform that requires a login.
     

    • 35 min
    How CJ Gustafson built Mostly Metrics, a newsletter for CFOs

    How CJ Gustafson built Mostly Metrics, a newsletter for CFOs

    My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/
     
    I think everyone likes to think of themselves as being financially savvy, especially if, like me, you write about business topics, but how many of us truly understand finance terms that are bandied about like gross profit and lifetime value. Like we may know that the term EBITDA stands for “earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization,” but how many people actually know how to calculate it?
     
    CJ Gustafson knows. After a decade in finance, he’s mastered all the accounting jargon, and a few years ago he realized that there was a market need for someone who could explain these terms in a way that’s both entertaining and informative. So he launched Mostly Metrics, a Substack newsletter about finance, strategy, and operations at startups. 
     
    CJ’s since grown the newsletter to over 42,000 subscribers, all while holding down his day job as a CFO at a tech startup. In my interview with him, we talked about why he launched the newsletter, how he balances his day job work and writing, and what his longterm plans are for the newsletter.
     

    • 42 min
    How Sam Koslowski helped build The Daily Aus, a social first media outlet in Australia

    How Sam Koslowski helped build The Daily Aus, a social first media outlet in Australia

    My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/
     
    For most of Instagram’s existence, it wasn’t thought of as a platform for distributing news, but a growing number of media entrepreneurs have figured out ways to leverage its photo and video features to deliver engaging news digests.
     
    One of those entrepreneurs is Sam Koslowski. Back in 2017, he and his co-founder launched The Daily Aus, a social first news outlet that’s grown its Instagram account to over 500,000 followers. As it ramped up its audience on the app, it began to diversify its content offerings across newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube.
     
    In my interview with Sam, we discussed why Instagram was the ideal platform for launching the company, how it monetizes its content, and where he hopes to expand in the coming years.
     

    • 43 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
28 Ratings

28 Ratings

Nancy0707 ,

Excellent Podcast

Simon is brilliant and thorough. This podcast is full of value. Very important resource for people who want to get better at what they do.

Regina Revazova ,

The host is excellent

So are his guests. I really appreciate where Simon steers the conversations, the topics he chooses and how raw and genuine these talks are. I’d suggest every J school in the country to listen to this one (actually recommended some of my former professors..) while they all are pondering on where the journalism is headed, this podcast actually shows where it currently is with all the changing landscape of content production.

123marketing ,

Questions are awesome.... the whole vibe is awesome

Great questions.... I like every episode so far....never heard of some these businesses until now....

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