How Mill Media and Zetland scaled their membership models

Left to right: Lisa MacLeod (FT Strategies), Lea Korsgaard (Zetland), Joshi Herrmann (MIll Media)

Credit: Mark Hakansson / Marten Publishing

Two European media companies have one thing in common: agility is in their DNA.

Mill Media started as a Substack newsletter covering Manchester in 2020 and has grown into a newsletter franchise covering six UK cities. The combined titles are read by more than 150,000 email subscribers and close to 10,000 paying members. The first three cities have achieved profitability, and the other three are on course to do the same.

Zetland launched in Denmark in 2010, growing its readership to 40,000 paying members in a country of 6 million. This year, it expanded into its slightly smaller neighbour Finland, with another 17,000 paying members.

At Newsrewired last week (13 May 2024), Mill Media founder Joshi Herrmann and Zetland co-founder Lea Korsgaard shared their top lessons in scaling a modern media business.

Less is more

"People get micro updates from group chats and social media now," Herrmann explains. "What readers really want is help navigating society and emotional resonance rather than being bombarded with news."

Zetland and Mill Media both share a laser-focused vision of what purpose they serve in their readers' lives. And they have both arrived at the same conclusion that the traditional news model of 'something for everyone' has lost its appeal.

As a result, more time is spent perfecting the format, medium and frequency of their output.

Zetland, for instance, produces four daily news stories, all of which are narrated by their journalists. Why? Four in five Zetland members listen to audio.

Thinking like a tech company

"Lean" and "agile" are buzzwords often associated with tech companies. But it simply means to adapt quickly to changes, thanks to flexible workflows and empowered staff members.

Large newsrooms, traditionally, struggle in this respect and are slow to experiment. By comparison, Zetland's pivot to audio took three months.

But Korsgaard revealed that tech companies are not just the inspiration but direct rivals.

"We prioritise technology and user experience as much as content," she explains, adding that the company employs eight tech specialists alongside 35 journalists. "We consider Netflix and Spotify our competition, not just other news outlets."

Korsgaard also revealed a Netflix-inspired take on leadership: not to be too sentimental about talent. Her mandate is that people come and go that is life and business.

Being lighter on your feet

Mill Media offers a slightly different view. Herrmann was determined to prove wrong the assumption that local news could not sustain itself.

It grew many of its first titles - starting with The Mill - on Substack, before migrating to the Ghost platform when it expanded to London and Glasgow at the end of last year. The platforms were key to its success.

The simplicity of Substack and then the greater customisability and profitability of Ghost meant it was never distracted or inhibited by the tech. It was also never doomed by large overheads.

"It was a personal challenge to create a very low-cost model where virtually all our money goes into journalism rather than print production costs," he says, crediting the company's success to empowering high-potential talent to tell meaningful local stories.

He now employs 19 full-time journalists across his newsletter titles and generates 90 per cent of revenue from subscriptions. However, he would like to grow the remaining 10 per cent of advertising revenue to be less dependent on memberships.

Zetland is open to commercial partnerships with its live events. But its app, where members consume content, is sacred and off-limits to advertisers.

Proof in the pudding

Perhaps most surprising is the success with younger audiences. Zetland reports that half its subscribers are in their 20s and 30s, which Herrmann called "mind-blowing" for a paid news product.

Zetland's success in audio is also something Herrmann applauds. Many of The Mill's younger members do not realise it is a newsletter-first brand and are primarily listening to podcasts.

Young talent is also part of the recipe. One of The Mill's key exposés into financial irregularities at Manchester University - by journalists in their mid-twenties - gained nationwide press and is in the running to win the prestigious Paul Foot Award. The police and parliament have both been looking at the serious allegations raised by The Mill's reporting.

Zetland, too, won the Cavling Prize (dubbed the Danish Pulitzer Award) and the most prestigious award in the country for its investigation into the mink breeding scandal.

What would you do with £10m?

Asked what the two companies would do with a cash injection of £10m, both companies underscored their commitment to high-quality journalism prevailing in the future.

Korsgaard would expand the model to Norway, Sweden and Germany. Herrmann would build an investigative unit, up The Mill's tech, and eye up a move to the US Midwest in Cincinnati or Cleveland.

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