LOL. Substack? Guys. C'mon. It would be a rounding error on a rounding error. Also: Apple does not have a supply problem for News, Podcasts are not a real business for them, and the last thing they need is the UGC content moderation problem that social would bring them.
First, thank you for reading the entire email. I’m always curious whether people can make it past Troy’s essay. Here is more of my thinking on the idea. Consumption of creator-led premium content will continue scaling rapidly. Substack is a leading independent publishing platform for this type of content. You worked at Medium, and Ev’s idea of a networked publishing platform was right; the timing was off. Substack is proving that network effects can accrue significant benefits in knowledge sharing for all three constituents: the company, creators, and consumers. Enhanced content discovery, community, monetization, and trust create a solid lock-in (+flywheel) that’s hard to replicate or displace. This is an environment in which premium content generation can thrive. With improving technology, Substack creators will be able to more easily evolve from text to audio and video without needing a MrBeast-level audience, budget, or team. Video content is key to garnering significant advertising dollars (I agree that the TAM for audio advertising is small). The bottom line is that Apple must figure out more ways to monetize consumer attention tied to media consumption (its traditional lines of business are getting tapped out). I’m sure Apple News has discussed partnership ideas with Substack to reap some of these benefits, but by owning Substack, Apple captures a larger share of the subscription revenue and in the future ad revenue. On your point about content moderation, AI can fix this.
That was the bankers idea. Take it up with him.
LOL. Substack? Guys. C'mon. It would be a rounding error on a rounding error. Also: Apple does not have a supply problem for News, Podcasts are not a real business for them, and the last thing they need is the UGC content moderation problem that social would bring them.
First, thank you for reading the entire email. I’m always curious whether people can make it past Troy’s essay. Here is more of my thinking on the idea. Consumption of creator-led premium content will continue scaling rapidly. Substack is a leading independent publishing platform for this type of content. You worked at Medium, and Ev’s idea of a networked publishing platform was right; the timing was off. Substack is proving that network effects can accrue significant benefits in knowledge sharing for all three constituents: the company, creators, and consumers. Enhanced content discovery, community, monetization, and trust create a solid lock-in (+flywheel) that’s hard to replicate or displace. This is an environment in which premium content generation can thrive. With improving technology, Substack creators will be able to more easily evolve from text to audio and video without needing a MrBeast-level audience, budget, or team. Video content is key to garnering significant advertising dollars (I agree that the TAM for audio advertising is small). The bottom line is that Apple must figure out more ways to monetize consumer attention tied to media consumption (its traditional lines of business are getting tapped out). I’m sure Apple News has discussed partnership ideas with Substack to reap some of these benefits, but by owning Substack, Apple captures a larger share of the subscription revenue and in the future ad revenue. On your point about content moderation, AI can fix this.