The Business of Content with Simon Owens

Episodes

How a small journalism nonprofit is holding the largest pharma companies to account

February 16, 2026

A journalism nonprofit applies Consumer Reports' rigor to expose hidden dangers in pharma, building a trust-based, donor-supported media model.

Should the media be afraid of Google Zero?

February 13, 2026

Media's future: Debating Google Zero, the athlete-creator boom, YouTube's Hollywood disruption, and the Netflix-Spotify alliance vs. YouTube.

A couple teenagers launched a media company that now drives 240 billion annual views

February 9, 2026

How two teenagers built Puberty Group, a bootstrapped media company with 170M followers and 240B annual views, by mastering early platform growth.

This company wants to fix the broken economics of standup comedy

January 28, 2026

Punch Up is fixing the broken economics of standup comedy by helping comedians own their audience, bypass algorithms, and monetize directly.

How a few college students bootstrapped one of the largest sports media websites in the world

January 27, 2026

How a college passion project was bootstrapped into a global sports media giant, Essentially Sports, without any venture capital.

This social-first news outlet turned street interviews into a 600,000-subscriber YouTube channel

January 21, 2026

Roka News grew from an Instagram page to a 600k-sub YouTube channel by pioneering a documentary format based on street interviews.

How a 45-year-old magazine is building a B2B media empire

January 19, 2026

How two founders revived a legacy magazine by killing its print edition and are now building a B2B media empire in highly regulated niches.

How the Kyiv Independent used global sympathy to generate membership revenue

December 17, 2025

How the Kyiv Independent grew from a crisis to a global media brand, building a 22k-strong membership with a mission-driven, no-paywall model.

How a local newsletter company is leveraging AI to cover hundreds of counties across the US

December 12, 2025

6AM City's co-founder shares the playbook for scaling local news from 18 to 400+ markets by using AI to launch and grow newsletters.

Why BroBible's staff bought the website back from the media company that had acquired it

December 8, 2025

BroBible's publisher shares insights on their journey from blog to acquisition, a staff-led buyback, and thriving via a diversified media model.

Why the founder of a popular cycling blog sold it and then left to launch a competitor

December 5, 2025

Wade Wallace details his journey from founding Cycling Tips to launching the 15k-member-funded Escape Collective, a bet on ad-free, niche media.

How a failed horror movie director co-founded one of the most popular yoga channels on YouTube

December 1, 2025

How a failed horror director pivoted to YouTube, building the 13M+ subscriber 'Yoga with Adrian' empire with evergreen content and a paid app.

How Big Cabal became one of the fastest-growing media outlets in Africa

November 24, 2025

Big Cabal Media's CEO shares how they're building a resilient African media company by diversifying revenue through events, film, and research.

How a former USA Today columnist launched his own travel channel on YouTube

November 21, 2025

From USA Today to a Scripps TV deal, Jefferson Graham shares his journey building a travel YouTube channel and diversifying revenue streams.

Why this business news outlet ditched advertising to focus entirely on paid subscriptions

November 19, 2025

How NBR's Todd Scott ditched all advertising to build a profitable, $4.5M subscription-only media business with a hard paywall.

Why a former New York Times editor launched her own women-focused magazine

November 14, 2025

Francesca Donner discusses her journey from WSJ/NYT editor to founding The Persistent, a women-focused publication prioritizing community-building.

How an IMDB co-founder achieved three successful media exits

October 15, 2025

IMDB co-founder Alan Jay details his journey through three successful media exits and explains why the digital media playbook has fundamentally changed.

How a San Francisco print zine evolved into a thriving local blog

October 10, 2025

From a stapled zine to a local media empire. The story of Broke Ass Stuart reveals how to build a brand by adapting and hustling.

How a government contractor built a media empire around his niche content

October 8, 2025

How a federal contractor built a media empire teaching his niche, and is now leveraging that influence to win billion-dollar contracts.

This local newsletter covering a Dallas suburb has the highest paid conversion rate on Substack

October 6, 2025

How a local Substack achieved a 40% paid conversion rate by covering 'boring' city meetings while its founder kept his day job.

This former Amazon executive generates over $200,000 from a newsletter he sends just once a week

September 24, 2025

Ex-Amazon director Dave Anderson built a $200k/year newsletter by optimizing for time, not growth, focusing on high-impact, evergreen content.

Why a marketing consultant bought the largest real estate trade magazine in Canada

September 22, 2025

How a real estate agent used content marketing to launch an agency, then bought a failing magazine to build a niche media powerhouse.