BoSacks Speaks Out: From The Niche summit - Revenue Trends You Need to Know NOW

One of my pet peeves at conferences is the breakout sessions. I know that people have special interests, like sales, or circulation, or B2b or B2C, all good but I always feel like I might be missing something important in the next breakout meeting. I am comfortable admitting my many years in the industry and I remember the old-style conferences of Folio, Publishing Executive, and of course the MPA and Imag. Those conferences were all held in one room for the whole conference. No one felt they missed anything.

My self-appointed role has always been to track the industry and report to my readers about, well, everything. That job becomes harder when I know half the conversation is happening somewhere else down the hall. I have mentioned this frustration more than once to Ryan Dohrn of the Niche conferences. To his credit, the last day of the recent Niche event had us all back together in one room, learning as a collective. I do not know if my observations had anything to do with that decision, but I do know it felt like the way conferences used to be: unified, focused, and perhaps better for the industry.

The half day with everyone attending had the following speakers:

The Importance of Creating an AI Policy for Your Media Company : David Arkin, CEO Arkin Consulting

Revenue Trends You Need to Know NOW : Paul Sammon and Allison Duncan, All in One Insights

The Recruitment Report, Hiring Trends Important to Media Companies : Robert Hawthorne, Founder, Hawthorne Search.

Why Every Media Company Should Open A Digital Agency : Graham Kilshaw, CEO, Letrix

I have notes and slide captures on all of these sessions and will incorporate them in a day or two. These were all worth listening to. But today I will focus on Revenue Trends You Need to Know NOW : with Paul Sammon and Allison Duncan, of All in One Insights

Niche Media’s Revenue Reckoning: Focused, Fierce, and Finally Profitable

Paul and Allison said that ad revenue in niche media isn’t just shifting, it’s sprinting. And while the big boys chase scale and spray dollars across dying platforms, niche publishers have something better: loyalty, precision, and a reader base that actually gives a damn. The opportunity? Monumental. But only for those with guts, grit, and a plan sharper than yesterday’s CPM spreadsheet.

Print Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Selective

They also suggested that yes, print’s down 11% overall. But niche? Only 5%. That’s not decline, that’s curation. Loyal readers still show up, still engage, still spend. Print remains the emotional anchor, but the growth engine is digital, where niche players are clocking 8% gains and 85% are now multi-media machines. Google’s AI search shift? It’s rewriting the rules of attention. Adapt or vanish.

Newsletters: The Inbox Gold Rush

The speakers suggested that newsletters are growing 15% across the board, yet most niche publishers barely scrape 10% of their revenue from them. That’s not strategy, that’s neglect. Newsletters are direct, intimate, and cheap. They’re the new storefront. And if you’re not optimizing them, you’re leaving money on the table and readers in the cold. As the publisher of the world’s oldest Newsletter, I agree.

Custom Content + AI = Scaled Passion

AI isn’t the enemy, it’s the amplifier. Text, images, video, all tailored for brand lovers who want more of what they already adore. Niche publishers don’t need to chase virality. They need to feed obsession. That’s the model. That’s the money. Again I agree.

Engagement > Eyeballs

Still chasing uniques? Cute. The smart money’s on depth, not breadth. Brand lovers convert, stick around, and evangelize. Newsletters and owned channels are the antidote to algorithmic whiplash. First-party data isn’t optional, it’s the new currency.

Diversify or Die Trying

The winners aren’t waiting for Q4. They’re bundling newsletters, social, print, and events into high-value packages that scream relevance. Multi-channel isn’t a buzzword, it’s a survival strategy. Promote the brand, not just the ad space. Sell value, not impressions.

Know Thy Audience, Then Monetize It

Segment. Activate. Repeat. Print readers aren’t digital readers. Newsletter fans aren’t TikTok scrollers. Treat them like tribes, not demographics. First-party data lets you speak their language, tell their stories, and sell them what they actually want.

BoSacks Bottom Line: No More Maybes

Let’s be blunt. This is not a polite transition. This is a transformation that snaps the old playbook shut. Print still matters, yes, but it is no longer the whole meal. Treat it like the appetizer: intentional, premium, and memorable. The main course is diversified revenue, direct audience ownership, and an unapologetic focus on value.

I have watched this game for decades. The newsstand glory days faded, distribution fractured, and digital rewired attention economics. Chasing mass for its own sake turned out to be a sugar rush, not a business plan. The publishers who survived did not pray for foot traffic, they built relationships. They moved readers from casual passersby to known customers, then to members who pay for access, insight, and experiences. The smarter ones printed fewer issues on better paper, made each edition collectible, and leaned into evergreen utility rather than disposable trends. In other words, they treated scarcity as a feature, not a flaw.

Owning the audience is the pillar that supports everything else. Rented reach is a lovely illusion until the platform changes the rules midseason. Email, SMS, private forums, and member communities give you durable contact with people who actually want to hear from you. If the first-party relationship is strong, marketing becomes a service rather than a struggle. If the relationship is weak, you end up yelling into an algorithm and calling it strategy.

Price is not a confession of guilt, it is a signal of confidence. Premium pricing works when the product delivers premium value. That means access to expertise, meaningful community, and experiences that do not exist elsewhere. Cheap is a race you cannot win, and it teaches your audience to expect less. Raise the standard and charge accordingly, then keep your promises.

Revenue diversity separates durable publishers from fragile ones. Subscriptions and memberships are the spine, with events, training, B2B research, job boards, tasteful commerce, archive licensing, and smart syndication as the ribs. None of these should feel like bolt-ons. They should feel like expressions of the same mission, delivered through different formats that meet your audience where they are and when they need you.

Measure what actually matters. Pageviews and social spikes might feel exciting, yet they rarely pay the rent. ARPU (the average revenue generated per user), retention, and conversion tell the true story. If your renewals are strong, your product is strong. If your renewals are weak, the rest is noise. And if you cannot say, with clarity, why a reader should stay, you have your next assignment.

Teams win when they are small, cross-functional, and accountable. Ship quickly, learn loudly, and kill what does not work. Bureaucracy protects feelings; iteration protects the business. Give talented people a clear mission and the authority to execute. Then get out of their way.

Use AI like an adult. Automate the repetitive work, strengthen quality control, and personalize responsibly. Protect rights, label provenance, and keep your archive under contract rather than under siege. AI can be a force multiplier for good craft, or a fog machine that hides weak thinking. Choose the former.

Market with intent. SEO still matters for durable topics, social still helps build community energy, and partnerships still extend reach. None of that works without a clear promise and a consistent voice. Spray and pray is not a plan; it is an apology waiting to happen.

The receipts are visible to anyone who looks. The mass newsstand model withered. Direct-to-reader specialty brands that sell quality and connection are thriving. Publishers that built paid communities, member-only events, and expert newsletters created annuities rather than fads. Teams that obsess over renewals and lifetime value beat teams that worship pageviews, every time.

Leadership in niche media is not headcount or pageviews. It is conviction, clarity, and the courage to evolve while others cling to yesterday. Know your niche better than anyone, serve it with precision, and price it like you mean it. If your value is fuzzy, your revenue will be too.

Bottom line: no more maybes. Decide who you serve, design the experience they cannot get anywhere else, and execute with urgency. Treat your audience like royalty and they will stay. The rest is noise, and you do not have time for noise.

Kicker: ink ages beautifully when handled with care; indecision spoils overnight.