Many of the hopes for a resurgent 2021 in the media business didn’t come to pass, but the year was hardly a disaster. SPACs were not, in fact, a way out for businesses that have no track record at profitability. Yet the ad business was surprisingly perky. Two big growth areas for digital publishers—subscriptions and commerce—showed signs of slowing growth. Still, many publishers have far more diversified business models now compared to five years ago. Finally, for flameouts like Ozy there are plenty of gritty success stories of publishers building sustainable business models. These are my three top storylines of the year for the media business.
The Rebooting: The Biggest Digital Media Stories of 2021
Brian Morrissey
December 23, 2021
