One Year Anniversary Subscriber Bonanza

Summary

The 404 Media Podcast: One Year Anniversary Subscriber Bonanza

Episode Title: One Year Anniversary Subscriber Bonanza
Release Date: October 4, 2024
Host: 404 Media (Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason)
Description: Celebrating its first anniversary, 404 Media hosts an extended episode exclusively for paying subscribers, delving into the company's progress, lessons learned, future plans, and insights into running a sustainable journalism business in the digital age.

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1. Introduction and Purpose of the Episode

Joseph kicks off the episode by announcing the special nature of this podcast edition, dubbed the "Subscriber Bonanza," celebrating 404 Media’s one-year anniversary. This episode is designed exclusively for paying subscribers, offering an in-depth look into the company’s operations, achievements, and future directions.

"We've just finished recording our 1 year anniversary subscriber bonanza... this is an extra long podcast where we really opened up to our 404 media paying subscribers about how the business is going..."
— Joseph [00:30]

2. Business Performance and Sustainability

Jason and Joseph discuss the current state of 404 Media, emphasizing the stability and sustainability of the business. They highlight the company's commitment to building a sustainable model that supports investigative journalism.

"Things are good. I think things are stable and I think we're doing what we set out to do, which is make a sustainable business so we can publish investigative journalism."
— Jason [01:28]

Emmanuel corroborates this sentiment by referencing a report from the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), stating that 404 Media has achieved sustainability approximately nine months prior.

"Things are okay. According to CJR, we are sustainable as of like nine months ago or something."
— Emmanuel [02:09]

3. Publication Metrics and Productivity

The team delves into the impressive publication metrics achieved over the past year. Jason reveals that 404 Media has published approximately 781 articles, with Jules estimating the number closer to 500 articles produced by the core team of four, supplemented by freelancers.

"Over the past year we have published something like 781 or 782..."
— Jason [02:23]

"Something like around 500 articles in a little bit over a month, a little over a year from, you know, four people."
— Jules [02:51]

Unnamed Speaker highlights the high productivity levels of the team, comparing it to their previous work at Motherboard. They emphasize the importance of consistent article publication in maintaining audience engagement and achieving sustainability.

"It is for four normal people. It's not for present company... we're very good at covering the news and getting a story out."
— Unnamed Speaker [03:12]

4. Strategies for Launching and Sustaining a Media Outlet

The discussion transitions to strategies for launching and maintaining a successful media outlet. Jason encourages aspiring journalists and media entrepreneurs to focus on publishing original stories consistently, contrasting this approach with outlets that rely on sporadic, high-impact investigations.

"The advice I just keep giving people is that you just need to publish original stories."
— Jason [04:15]

Jules shares insights from a recent talk in Norway, where he addressed the challenges faced by startup news websites. He critiques the common strategy of launching with a few big stories but failing to maintain a steady flow of content thereafter. Jules advocates for a model that prioritizes regular article publication to ensure ongoing audience engagement and sustainability.

"The biggest problem with many startup news websites is that they announce that they are going to launch and then there's like months of time pass... there's no plan for how they're going to keep the website filled with articles..."
— Jules [05:06]

5. Future Directions and Initiatives

Looking ahead, the team hints at upcoming initiatives aimed at enhancing their investigative reporting and expanding their reach. They mention plans to continue delivering high-quality journalism while exploring new areas influenced by technology and its societal impacts.

6. Closing Thoughts

The episode concludes with Joseph and Jason encouraging listeners to become paid subscribers to gain access to exclusive content and support the sustainability of 404 Media’s journalism efforts.

"If you listen to this, you're interested in hearing more, go become a paid 404 media subscriber."
— Joseph [00:30]

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Key Takeaways

• Sustainability Through Consistency: 404 Media emphasizes the importance of consistently publishing original content to maintain audience engagement and ensure financial sustainability.

• High Productivity: The core team’s ability to produce a significant number of articles annually demonstrates an effective workflow and commitment to investigative journalism.

• Advice for New Media Outlets: Aspiring media entrepreneurs should focus on regular content publication rather than relying solely on major investigative pieces to build and retain their audience.

• Community and Support: Building a subscriber base is crucial for sustaining independent journalism, as subscribers form the backbone of the business model.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "We've just finished recording our 1 year anniversary subscriber bonanza..." — Joseph [00:30]
• "Things are good. I think things are stable..." — Jason [01:28]
• "According to CJR, we are sustainable..." — Emmanuel [02:09]
• "Over the past year we have published something like 781 or 782..." — Jason [02:23]
• "It is for four normal people. It's not for present company..." — Unnamed Speaker [03:12]
• "The advice I just keep giving people is that you just need to publish original stories." — Jason [04:15]
• "The biggest problem with many startup news websites..." — Jules [05:06]

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This comprehensive summary provides an overview of the key discussions and insights shared during the "One Year Anniversary Subscriber Bonanza" episode of The 404 Media Podcast. It offers valuable lessons for media professionals and enthusiasts interested in the dynamics of running a sustainable digital journalism platform.

Transcript

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[Joseph]

Hey there, it's Joseph. So we've just finished recording our 1 year anniversary subscriber bonanza as Jason called it when I was looking for a headline. This is an extra long podcast where we really opened up to our 404 media paying subscribers about how the business is going, what we learned over the past year, what we're going to be doing in the future as well. I also just wanted to put a short trailer onto the main podcast feed. So if you listen to this, you're interested in hearing more, go become a paid 404 media subscriber.

[Jason]

You will get an email via a.

[Joseph]

Podcast platform called Transistor and that will give you a link to the premium podcast feed where you can listen to.

[Jason]

The rest of this chat.

[Joseph]

I hope you enjoy.

[Jason]

Bunch of work.

[Joseph]

Stuff like you say you gave this talk and we're doing more of those. Right.

[Jason]

We give talks to various conferences or festivals telling them about what it's like to run a media company today and all of that sort of thing. We've just been super, super busy. But I'm really, really glad that we can talk to subscribers now. The tldr. I mean you could stop listening, but please don't at this point. But I'll say things are good. I think things are stable and I think we're doing what we set out to do, which is make a sustainable business so we can publish investigative journalism. I mean, am I right? I think it's okay. Are things okay?

[Emmanuel]

Things are okay. According to cjr, we are sustainable. As of was like nine months ago or something. Yes. Yeah. Which is a funny headline to get. Yeah.

[Jason]

Over the past year we have published something like 781 or 782 because literally before we started recording I just published that Telegram confirmed it gave us data to use the data to law enforcement. Slight caveat on that in that that also counts posts that we email in different ways. So Jason, what do you think the real figure is?

[Jules]

Something like 500 probably at least 500. Yeah, something like around 500 articles in a little bit over a month, a little over a year from you know, four people. And then Jules had a couple and then there's been a couple freelancers. So for the Most part, like probably 500 articles by the four of us, which is pretty wild.

[Jason]

Well, you and Emmanuel managed Motherboard, basically. Emmanuel, is that a lot of articles for four people?

[Unnamed Speaker]

It is for four normal people. It's not for present company. Yeah, I mean, it's true. I mean, we have a high metabolism. It's like everyone at Motherboard was pretty productive. We've probably said this a million times, but we're all of a generation of blogging where quantity was a type of quality. And we've all done various shifts in the content minds. I've been to up to 10 blogs a day when I was starting out, which were very bad blogs, obviously, and we're not working at that rate. But when it comes to covering the news and getting a story out, we're very good at it. And I think Jason and I have talked about how that has been like a big portion of what we've been talking about when we've been talking to journalists, which has just been like, hey, try publishing articles. That usually works.

[Jason]

Yeah, that's. And yeah, you say publish articles and that works. And that's kind of wanted to bring up, which is like a lot of people or more people are moving into.

[Joseph]

Launching their own media outlets or maybe.

[Jason]

Their individual newsletter or something like that. I guess it would be slightly different for a newsletter, but the advice I just keep giving people is that you.

[Joseph]

Just need to publish original stories.

[Jason]

And I mean, look, maybe it's different in that some outlets could work by. Okay, you don't really publish anything for, I don't know, a month, two months, three months, and you come out with an absolutely massive investigation or something. And maybe that works for them. But have we found that we publish a lot and that seems to have help us.

[Joseph]

Right.

[Jason]

At least that's the way I see it.

[Jules]

Yeah, I mean that as Emmanuel mentioned, like. So a recent talk that I gave was in Norway at the Norwegian Society of Journalists, which was a really awesome experience for me to go over there and talk to journalists about reporting on cybercrime and just like our philosophy of reporting on big tech and things like that. And I know that Emmanuel gave a similar talk before, but I think the biggest problem with many startup news websites is that they announce that they are going to launch and then there's like months of time pass while they all sort of work on their big story for launch, and then they launch and they publish these great stories and it's cool for the first couple days, but then there's no plan for how they're going to keep the website filled with articles to make it like daily or hourly or daily or even weekly visit for people. And so I just don't think that that's a sustainable model for publishing unless you have a really big staff or unless you are really well funded or unless every article you do is amazing. And I think that what we do, and we talked about this before, but.