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Episodes from The Business of Content with Simon Owens
How an Instagram meme page became a social-first entertainment empire
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ In 2015, Reid Hailey started an anonymous Instagram meme page called Shithead Steve, mostly as a way to joke around with his friends. But once he began creating original memes, the account took off, eventually reaching a million followers and…
Why fashion influencers love the US Open
The Wall Street Journal found itself at the center of an AI controversy after publishing an op-ed that billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller later acknowledged he had written with the help of AI. What made the episode especially notable wasn't the disclosure itself, but the Journal's reaction:…
What was the point of BuzzFeed's HuffPost acquisition?
There was a time when HuffPost and BuzzFeed looked like the future of digital media. Both mastered the mechanics of internet distribution, attracted enormous audiences, and convinced investors that scale itself could become a durable competitive advantage. So how did two of the defining brands of…
How a Yankees podcast grew into a 60-person media company
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ Jomboy Media began as a Yankees podcast launched by Jimmy O'Brien and Jake Storiale with a small investment from a friend. Since then, it has evolved into a much larger sports media company, with dozens of channels, a roster of full-time creators, its…
Should the book industry ban AI writing?
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ Over the past year, book publishers have repeatedly found themselves caught in controversies over authors' use of AI. Social media sleuths run books through AI-detection tools, accusations start flying, and in some cases publishers cancel a book's…
Why the Washington Post thinks micropayments can finally work
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ For years, micropayments have been one of those ideas that repeatedly resurface in the publishing industry without ever seeming to gain much traction. The theory is simple: instead of forcing every reader into a recurring subscription, let them pay a…
The world's largest YouTubers use his AI language dubbing platform
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ Nate Stone was still in high school when he built a YouTube channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers by filming science and engineering experiments in his garage. But unlike many creators who stumble into a large audience, Stone never had…
This newsletter for female sports fans reached 1 million subscribers
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ When Ellen Hyslop and her co-founders launched The Gist in 2017, none of them had worked in media or the sports industry. They were young professionals in financial services who had grown frustrated with a sports media ecosystem that largely catered…
How a finance blog started in a garage scaled into a financial media empire
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ Founded in a Detroit garage in the early 2010s, Benzinga started as a scrappy finance blog for everyday stock market enthusiasts. Over the next decade, it grew into a major digital media platform, carving out a niche by sending detailed stock analysis…
This corporate consultant grew to 260,000 TikTok and YouTube subscribers in only 8 months
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ For most of her career, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue didn't have a social media presence. But after spending a decade running a consulting business, she moved from the UK to New York and decided to start sharing her ideas publicly for the first time. Armed…
The playbook behind Spotify's audiobook expansion
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ For years, the audiobook industry was defined by a single dominant player and a purchasing model that asked listeners to commit to an entire book before they knew whether they would enjoy it. Spotify is betting that there's a better way. By folding…
Why an NPR reporter left his job to launch a media outlet in Ukraine
My newsletter: https://simonowens.substack.com/ The war in Ukraine has given rise to an entirely new generation of independent media organizations, but few have a backstory as unusual as The Counteroffensive. Founded by veteran journalist Tim Mak after more than a decade covering politics, national…