Our guest today is Adam Hansmann, co-founder of The Athletic. The Athletic launched in 2016 when the idea of paying for content was still considered contrarian and newspapers & local coverage of sports was dwindling. Yet Adam and his co-founder built something that they wanted, solving a problem they experienced in their own lives and riding this massive market expansion.

Adam shares a lot of the lessons that he took away from his experience building The Athletic and there is a lot to learn here. Please enjoy this conversation with Adam Hansman.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).

Show Notes 

(00:00:00) Welcome to Making Media

(00:01:45) First question - The playbook for subscription based businesses

(00:05:35) User-centric development, as opposed to advertiser-centric in media

(00:07:32) Adam’s reflections on the state of media and business development

(00:09:24) Managing feedback in the subscription model between readers and journalists

(00:12:21) The level of transparency in company meetings and how positivity affects the team 

(00:15:02) Adam’s strategy when exploring alternative channels beyond Twitter to reach a broader audience

(00:17:16) Long-form journalism pieces and how it affected subscription performance

(00:18:42) The importance of bundling in The Athletic’s business

(00:22:09) Insights revealed when transitioning from local coverage to national content

(00:23:17) Adam’s key factors for fostering long-term alignment with employees 

(00:25:36) How funding constraints in the early days influenced the business operations

(00:28:07) The implementation of The Athletic’s pricing model and the factors that have contributed to its consistency over time

(00:30:37) Balancing the app and website as an all-in destination versus leveraging other platforms

(00:32:43) Subsequent changes since being acquired by The Times

(00:34:03) Add-on businesses like events and merchandise and their relevance to the overall business strategy

(00:35:21) The integration of multimedia components such as podcasts and videos

(00:37:15) Navigating the transition into The Times, ensuring the preservation of existing culture and fostering alignment for the next phase

(00:39:51) Potential opportunities and initiatives that Adam is excited about

(00:42:59) Debrief