Making Medium Money

Hi Ev Williams — saw you were in a tough spot.

Storytelling is broken. I was so excited about your mission from day one. Publishing needs a counter-measure to ad commercialisation. One that focuses on editorial content so the reader has equal, if not more, sway than brands in the boardroom.

A reader first organisation.

Here’s how I see it…

Medium is the purest form of editorial content today that remains agnostic to the whims of disruption based revenues. It is a model where quality journalism and stories win out against click bait and clutter.

Reading your blog post on pressures to define this model, I can help.

At CrowdEmotion, it echoes our conversations with content publishers.

Q: How do I measure the impact of editorial on brands?

Every model starts with a metric. Over the last 18 months, we at CrowdEmotion worked with the BBC to tackle exactly this problem. They won lots of awards in advertising research. It was published in WARC here [NB: paywall link]. The result is a measurement tool that enables brands to quantify the value of editorial content — a comparable counterpoint to advertising.

For Medium, not answering this question shutters offices. A tough, but necessary, day as a CEO to keep the mission focus. Other publishers who invest in content need to take note and join the challenge to answer this question.

Do we really want a world void of quality content in favour of revenues?

I certainly don’t.

Brands need strong editorial and quality publishers provide that.

Medium has the editorial content, the audience, and the support of the community.

CrowdEmotion have a metric.

Together, we can unlock the power of editorial impact on brands that engages a reader effectively. A reader first organisation that promotes a reader’s Medium.

Here to help,

Matt