Why YouTube video essays keep getting longer and longer

Welcome! I’m Simon Owens and this is my media industry newsletter. If you’ve received it, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.

If you fit into the latter camp and want to subscribe, then you can click on this handy little button:

Sign up here

Let’s jump into it…

Over the past year, several book releases have been canceled over suspicions that the authors used AI at some point during the writing process. In many cases, the authors have denied using AI altogether or said they used it only in limited ways, such as for editing or research. That hasn’t stopped publishers from backing down in the face of public outrage. [WSJ] (I used a gift link so you can access that article for free.)

I find these public witch hunts silly. Any book released by a major publisher has already gone through some level of vetting and editing that should speak to its quality. And if the book is bad, the publisher will presumably be punished with poor sales. Many of these cancellations seem to have little to do with the quality of the work and much more to do with ideology. It reminds me of the period a decade or so ago when YA novels were repeatedly pulled from shelves over dumb controversies whipped up by social media mobs trafficking in manufactured outrage.

What makes this especially silly is that many of the books coming under scrutiny were originally self-published to great success — which means readers had already validated the work before traditional publishers ever got involved.

When Kevin Raposo launched KnowTechie in 2014, he had no idea it would grow into a thriving tech news outlet — he just wanted journalists to answer his emails. He was working as a PR consultant and figured reporters would be more receptive to his pitches if they considered him to be one of their peers.

But after three years of running the site, its audience blew up, and Kevin was able to hire several writers to expand its coverage. And while the rise of generative AI has eaten into its traffic, KnowTechie continues to drive meaningful revenue.

In a recent interview, Kevin walked me through his accidental entry into content marketing, his strategy for growing KnowTechie’s audience, and how running the site impacts his day job as a tech PR consultant.

You know those play buttons appearing at the top of news articles that will allow you to listen to an AI-generated version? They’re more popular than you probably realize. The New Yorker, for instance, estimates that about 20% of its subscribers regularly listen to narrated stories. And the Wall Street Journal says the function has been used 5 million times in the last year. [CJR]

Those are incredible stats, especially when you consider how easy it is to install these players for every article. That’s some extremely low hanging fruit for publishers that want to get more engagement out of their already-existing audiences.

Currently, the Substack app allows all articles published to the platform to be played in audio form, but I can’t see any breakdown in my backend analytics of whether my followers are utilizing this feature. I’d be interested to know what percentage of the app’s daily users listen to Substack articles and whether those listeners have a higher propensity to convert into paid subscribers.

In the run-up to Semafor’s launch, the company was widely mocked for its stated ambition of serving all college-educated English speakers. But in a recent Verge interview, co-founder Ben Smith said Semafor ultimately embraced what he called an “anti-scale” strategy.

Rather than hire hundreds of reporters, it recruited a small group of veteran journalists to lead individual verticals. Instead of covering everything, it focused on a handful of specialized niches. And while Semafor does sell digital advertising, a significant share of its revenue comes from invite-only events monetized primarily through sponsorships. [The Verge]

Smith’s chief advantage is that he came from a scaled media company: BuzzFeed. He saw firsthand how chasing traffic for traffic’s sake can warp incentives and ultimately put a company on a path toward collapse. BuzzFeed News — the division Smith once ran — was shuttered just months after Semafor launched. I can’t help but wonder whether that closure triggered Semafor’s strategy shift.

Here’s what I have on deck for paid subscribers:

1. Why video essays keep getting longer and longer

2. Why news aggregators keep outperforming legacy media on social media

Let’s jump into it…