Congress 2023 brought together people from a cross-section of media and technology sectors, who explored key industry topics with the foremost global experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacob Donnelly, Publisher of the Morning Brew, discussed the concept of \u201cnimble power\u201d, and how creators drive industry conversations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few key insights from the session:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you’re the New York Times, you are not going to succeed going forward if you don’t have a very clearly defined understanding of who your audience is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Niche media is, is picking a lane and knowing exactly who is the consumer of that content. The key to any of these products is they have to know who actually wants it, right? We had Recurrent Ventures up here before. Every one of their publications, they’re all niche, and they all have a very specific \u201cwho\u201d that wants that content. And as long as you understand who that \u201cwho\u201d is, you have a great business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My belief is that going forward, the only way to succeed in media is through niches. And the only way to have a niche is to know \u201cwho\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n If we look at BuzzFeed, Vice, you know, a lot of these large general interest publications, their dream was to get as big as humanly possible, right? Buzzfeed raised hundreds of millions of dollars\u2026 Vice about to go bankrupt, thought they were worth $5.8 billion. They weren’t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue was they focused so much on top-line growth, growing their revenue without any sort of conversation about everything in the middle. If you look at the P&L, they focused only at the top. They never cared about cost. They never cared about anything. And so at the bottom, they’re losing money every single year. You cannot build a media company and not be profitable. Maybe one year you can, because you’re investing. Maybe two years, because you’re investing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you are not immediately trying to figure out how to generate revenue for your business, if you’re not immediately figuring out how to get to sustainability, you’re gonna be on a hamster wheel of investing, of raising money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re on a hamster wheel of raising money, you’re going to fail. Because you lose sight of what matters. Your customer no longer is your reader, your customer is your investor. And we go back to who matters. The \u201cwho\u201d really matters. To have a successful business, you need to serve the customer, and that is your reader.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n1. \u201cThe only way to succeed in media is through niches\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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2. \u201cYou cannot build a media company and not be profitable\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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