Let's start this week with a big number: 130 million. That's the number of subscribers Netflix has around the world. At around $10/month per subscriber, it's easy to understand how they are able to spend $8 billion on original content this year. I happened upon this number while listening to a fascinating interview with Redef CEO Jason Hirschorn in which he breaks down how Netflix outsmarted everyone else in TV. Well worth a listen not only for his analysis of Netflix's success but also his insights into more general media issues.
Time for a little nostalgia as data journalist Graham Douglas looks back at 30 years of making charts at The Economist. Ah, who remembers those Letraset sheets?
Getting its hands on Skype logs and other documents, BuzzFeed News together with Postimees and and investigative outfit Re:Baltica reveal the tactics used by Russia to influence public opinion.
The AP will license its content to the newsrooms in the Civil network (there are 14 so far) and will work with Civil on a blockchain based-technology that will let Civil newsrooms track the flow of their content and enforce licensing rights.
Last September The Economist deployed a dedicated team to revitalise its approach to newsletters. Newsletter editor Sunnie Huang talks through some of their challenges and successes.
“Increasingly, a successful digital media company will be one that can accumulate multiple revenue sources,” says Narisetti, a veteran of News Corp., The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
The former editor-in-chief of the Guardian looks back on two decades that changed journalism for ever. Well worth a read.
Last spring, the Guardian remodeled its content studio Labs to align more closely with the rest of the newsroom, resulting in a 66% increase in revenue in the first half of the year compared with the first half of last year.
Back in May last year, Vox began a crowdsourcing campaign for Borders, its documentary series about the impact that borders have on people living either side of them. By the end of the process they had received nearly 6,000 story idea submissions.
Tips & Tools
Listen up
Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant left their steady jobs at New York Public Radio to launch Stable Genius Productions, a news startup built on Civil, a blockchain-based platform. And they're making a podcast about it. Worth a listen if you're still struggling to get your head around the blockchain and journalism.
Learn
Learn from one of the best in this course by Nadieh Bremer. You can get a free SkillShare trial, so worth checking out.
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Until next week,
Alastair
@alastairotter
Disclaimers: Apart from Media Hack I also work for the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) which I occasionally include links to. I do not receive any financial reward for any of the links included in this newsletter.
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