Digital Media Growth Podcast

Greg Emerson is a mobile product specialist with deep experience in the digital publishing industry, having previously lead product teams at Huffpost, The Wall Street Journal and Newsday. This is a great interview for anybody interested in strategy, UX, product design and the potential of mobile. You can tell he really speaks from deep experience and expertise. 

Jill Manoff is the Editor in Chief at Glossy. Glossy is a B2B publication that covers the evolution of the fashion, beauty and wellness industry through the lens of digital technology. In this episode we cover Jill's role at Glossy, how she makes editorial decisions, creating content for an expert audience, honest advertising, hiring the right talent and many more topics. This is a really interesting interview for anybody interested in B2B publishing, the fashion industry, and the role of Editor-in-Chief.

Mario Vasilescu is the CEO of Rewordly Inc - the Audience Engagement Engine. He's on a mission to bring integrity back to the internet by making it easier for publishers to focus on quality over quantity by creating tools that reframe the incentives of the "attention economy". Mario is a very interesting thinker. We go into his concept of the "click bubble" and how the online attention economy was warped around false and shallow incentives that damaged readers and publishers alike. We also go deep into the topic of engagement. Mario has a clear and insightful conception of what engagement actually is and how it can be accurately measured and improved.

Lester Wiltfong is the Editor in Chief and writer at Windy City Gridiron, a news site that focuses on Chicago Bears news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective. He manages a team of 10 writers and coordinates their content strategy across social media, video and their podcast. If you've ever wondered what the job of Editor in Chief is like, or you've ever thought about launching your own sports site - don't miss this episode!

Annex media is a Canadian digital publishing brand comprising over 65 different individual publications serving various industries throughout the country. We had a great conversation with Director of Digital Media Kyle Shay and project manager Stacey Bradshaw about how they run things smoothly across so many different brands. As you can imagine this is a challenge with a team of only 10, but they have some impressive processes in place that get the job done. We also talked a lot about their advertising strategies, how they generate revenue, webinars and email newsletter products. Enjoy!

David Frangioni is the publisher at Modern Drummer. David has had a long career as a musician, producer, entrepreneur and author. In this episode he shares insight into his work at Modern Drummer, his career and his interesting life story.

Ebone Bell is the founder and editor-in-chief of Tagg Magazine.Tagg is an innovative, LGBTQ women-focused magazine, website and podcast serving communities across the country. In this episode we discuss growing a media brand for an underserved audience, connecting with advertisers and sponsors by adding value, expanding from one city to a national level, newsletter strategies and much more!

Steve Beatty is the "communications guy" at Newspack. Newspack is a next-gen opensource publishing and revenue generation platform for WordPress publishers. We go through the ins and outs of Newspack in this interview, and get some great stories, insights, and perspectives from Steve on the digital publishing business in general.

Bill Doerrfeld is a tech journalist and Editor-in-Chief at Nordic APIs. Nordic APIs disseminate high impact thought leadership on the API economy - creating blog posts, eBooks, webinars, and conferences to serve their expert audience. We had a great conversation that will be interesting to anyone building a tech publishing brand.

Sven Wagenknecht is the Editor-in-chief of BTC-ECHO, a German digital publication covering cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Check out this episode to learn about how they grew a brand new publication into an impressive business and their exciting plans for the future.

In this episode Juliana Koranteng goes into how and why she set up Mediatainment Finance, how the brand has evolved over the years, her thought process as an entrepreneurial publisher and many more topics. This is a great episode packed with great stories and insights.

Carmen Guillen is the Editor in Chief at Unfold magazine, a publication for professional communicators. In this episode we get deep into how to connect with readers, staying human in your communication, and ethical marketing. We also get into new tech trends, the "slow" movement and many other topics.

Margarita is a Business and Tech Writer and PhD Candidate in Journalism at the University of Tampere. Her current role is Editor in Chief at Binary District Journal, where she is on a mission to spotlight the brains behind the innovations and keep her audience up to date on cutting edge tech.

In this episode I'm joined by Jeremy Caplan. Jeremy heads up The Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY. We discussed the current state of Entrepreneurial publishing, and the conversation was packed with fascinating insights and actionable pointers. A must listen if you're involved in a news startup or you have some ideas for your own venture.

In this episode I talk with Mary Walter Brown. Mary is the CEO of the News Revenue Hub. We talk about the important work they're doing at The Hub, and get into a lot of strategies and advice that publishers can use to generate more revenue and thrive in a financially challenging era.

Emily Goligoski is the research director for the Membership Puzzle Project. In this episode we talk about her research, and what they've learned at the project about growing thriving membership programs. This conversation was packed full of information and insights, enjoy!

Apryl Pilolli is the head of innovation at Social News Desk. We discuss her long and varied career in news, how she got into social media, and the work she does today at social news desk. We also get into her tips and tricks for digital publishers to make the most out of their social strategies and whats working well right now on the platforms.

Andrew Losowsky is an award winning writer, editor and storyteller. After a long and successful career in journalism he became the head of the Coral Project at Vox Media - an open source project that seeks to help publishers build better communities around their journalism. We discuss the history of comments sections, where they lost their way, and the whys and hows of building positive communities around your publishing brand. Enjoy!

Arran Rice is a British Entrepreneur and CEO of Simple Flying. We discuss his background, how and why he started Simple Flying - and how he's achieved such impressive growth a year down the road. This episode will be interesting for niche publishers interested in growth, and anybody thinking about starting their own news or info site. I hope you enjoy the show.

In this episode I sit down with Becky Pallack - product manager for The Arizona Daily Star. We discuss how she learned about the lean innovation framework, how she uses it to develop successful news products, and how other publishers can do the same.

In this episode we sit down with Todd Price, the lead dining reporter for NOLA.com. Todd set up the popular Facebook group "Where NOLA Eats" and grew it to 25,000 members. We discuss how he did this, how the group informs their reporting and engages their audience - and we get into his top tips for other publishers to do the same.