Publishers Finding Their Voice
Then you have publishers taking matters into their own hands. To me, The New York Times is the most fascinating player here. They did not wait to be swallowed by a tech algorithm. They built their own audio app. Owning the direct relationship with a listener is a rare, highly valuable commodity in modern media.
Direct audience relationships are the ultimate moat.
But the transition is never clean. We do not yet know if audio will genuinely drive new subscriptions or just pacify existing ones. Meanwhile, SiriusXM holds a totally different advantage. They have a captive, in-car audience. People stuck in traffic on the M25 cannot endlessly scroll. They listen. Yet, satellite radio feels increasingly ossified in a smartphone world. Cultural relevance is fickle, and betting on legacy distribution carries the very real risk of capital loss.