Launched on November 11th 2021, just three months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent (KI) is four years old tomorrow. The award-winning English-language media outlet covers Ukraine and Eastern Europe for the rest of the world, and is celebrating its birthday with a campaign designed to boost its membership from 22,000 to 25,000 by the end of the year.

This week's guest is the Kyiv Independent's Chief Operations Officer Zakhar Protsiuk. KI has reporters on the frontline of the war and an investigations unit covering Russian war crimes, but also covers Ukrainian business, culture and even travel.

What struck Peter this week in speaking with Zakhar, is how focused he was on what we might consider the normal elements of building a media business. Of course we spoke about the war, but we spoke just as much about audience acquisition and retention, trust and churn.

Listen now to hear Kyiv Independent's origin story, whether it's possible to separate everyday media operations from the impacts of Russia's invasion, revenue diversification, and the brand's shift from donations to a membership model.

Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

In this week's episode of The Publisher Podcast, we're joined by David Adeleke, founder and CEO of Communiqué, a media business that analyses African media and its creative economy.

Communiqué started out as a newsletter, but now runs live events and publishes research about the scope of the creator economy across the continent.

We last spoke with David four years ago on the podcast, and a lot has changed since he set up his newsletter as a side project. He talks to Peter about how he always wanted Communiqué to be more than a newsletter, his vision for a 'proper' media business, and how he is hiring to build a culture that can be replicated elsewhere. He also talks about community and the importance of bringing what he does online into physical spaces.

Get the write-up of the key points of this interview in your inbox by subscribing to The Publisher Newsletter, over on voices.media

Over 500 media and publishing professionals gathered in the beautiful Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid to hear leading speakers discuss their strategies for thriving in today’s landscape.

ChatGPT, AI overviews and traffic challenges are certainly top of mind for many delegates, but the on-stage conversations haven’t been quite as dominated by AI as we’d expected. Rather, there seems to be a doubling down on good, ‘old fashioned’ publishing principles like investing in high-quality content and products in order to secure growth.

There were some really strong themes that came out across the two days - too many to include them all here - so we've focused on the top four. Hear speakers from TIME, The Economist, Hearst, Semafor, The Atlantic and more discussing transformation, new opportunities, brands vs personalities, and how they're using AI.

Get a write-up of the key learnings from this episode online at voices.media or straight to your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Juliet Riddell, Head of New Formats at the Financial Times. Her focus is on telling stories using video, and she spoke to Peter following the September release of the 13-minute film, Recall Me, Maybe, written by comedian David Baddiel and starring Stephen Fry and Gemma Whelan.

Juliet talks about why a news organisation like the FT is making this type of drama, the other films in the FT's Standpoint series, and the power of external collaborations in bringing new perspectives to big issues.

Get a write-up of the key learnings from this interview online at voices.media or straight to your inbox by signing up to The Publisher Newsletter.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Simon Freeman, Publisher at Like the Wind, a quarterly print magazine dedicated to exploring the culture, history and social issues in the world of running. They are also a blueprint for sustainable indie magazine publishing.

Simon spoke to Peter as part of the research and writing for Inside the Print Revival, our report on why print magazines are making headlines again.

In this episode, Simon talks about 'niche-ification'; how it's okay that not every runner is a potential Like the Wind reader, how social media helps sell magazines as a marketing tool, but also as a catalyst for readers returning to analogue media.

Download our free report exploring the print revival here.

From conceptualization to execution, Crowdfindervideo's Simon Elliott shares his expertise on what makes video work for magazine publishers, providing valuable insights and practical tips for industry professionals.

In this video podcast, recorded live at the Publisher Podcast Summit, Peter Houston and Simon Elliott discuss the significant benefits of video podcasting for publishers, emphasising its role in audience growth and revenue generation.

They explore the importance of building a structured video production process, the necessity of effective storytelling, and the challenges faced during the 'pivot to video'.

Practical tips for starting a video podcast, editing content and enhancing viewer engagement are also shared, along with insights on how to present oneself confidently on camera.

Watch the video podcast here.

This video podcast episode was produced in partnership with Crowdfindervideo. You want the audience growth and engagement that come with video and audio but don’t have the hours in the day? Crowdfindervideo clients make the decisions on their content but we do the production work. We deliver the audio, video and social assets that turn your ideas into a consistent, multi-platform presence. We'll also do the thumbnails and show notes. We can even upload for clients.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Sean Cornwell, CEO of Immediate Media. Sean will be speaking to Colin Morrison at our November AI Forum in London, discussing what AI means to Immediate. There are still tickets left but we're anticipating selling out, so head here to book and for more info on speakers and Masterclasses.

Immediate is something of a ray of hope amidst all the AI gloom. Over the last few years, the business - led by Sean - has looked really hard for ways to make AI work to its advantage.

Sean and Peter talk about optimism and how important it is to focus on the things you can control, the role of real human beings in content creations, and how to bring those humans along on the AI journey. Peter asks (of course) where print fits into all this.

Sean is speaking at The Definitive AI Forum for Media, Information & Events on Tuesday 25th November. It's a one-day event from Flashes & Flames and MediaVoices explaining, discussing and projecting the impact of AI on content creation, discoverability, marketing and management in news media, lifestyle, business information and events companies.

This week's guest on The Publisher Podcast is Mel McVeigh, Head of Digital at the Professional Publisher's Association (PPA). Mel has been at the PPA for the last 18 months, and her role is to support digital thinking within the organisation and its members.

Mel recently worked with Enders Analysis on a report - Consumers, creators, and brands: Rewriting the media playbook. The report aims to help publishers with their plans around technology investments, as well as provoke and challenge them to think about how they're going to innovate in the long-term.

Peter and Mel talk about the challenges technology brings and whether the website is really dying, but also the reasons to be cheerful, like the sustained trust enjoyed by magazine brands. She talks about platforms, processes, and product thinking, as well as the importance of editorial intuition.

Read the write-up of this interview over on voices.media or by signing up to our weekly newsletter.