The Independent Publishers Alliance was set up to champion and empower independent publishers. To celebrate the work of the organisation, NDA is running a series of interviews with its members, Next up is Stuart Miles, Founder and CEO at Pocket-lint.
Why did you join the Independent Publisher Alliance and what do you hope it can achieve?
Pocket-lint was founded in 2003 and since that time we’ve watched the industry landscape constantly change. As publishers we can either choose to ignore that change or work to adapt to our surroundings.
By being a part of a group with other like-minded publishers there is not only the potential to help others succeed where we perhaps at first failed, but also to get answers to some of our questions too.
What is the biggest challenge for your business in 2022?
Scale.
We just can’t at work at the same scale as some of the bigger publishers who have millions of dollars behind them. Not because we aren’t capable, but the impact we create by rolling out a new feature on two sites, just isn’t the same as rolling it out on 100 sites.
We still get there, but just not as fast sometimes.
What is the biggest opportunity?
Being nimble. B
eing able to move quickly will always give you a strong advantage. As a tech-first publisher we’ve worked hard to create several tools and features that allow our editorial teams to tell their stories not only in more engaging and relevant ways, but also efficiently too.
How is your business adapting and evolving to take advantage?
To make sure we stay relevant to our audience.
Whether that’s changing the way we tell the story, how we present it, or what information we include, we are always striving to ensure that the product we produce is the best we can make it. If other publishers cut corners and we don’t, then even without trying we will see the benefits of our hard work.
As an independent publisher, how are your relationships with advertisers and agencies changing?
We pride ourselves on offering engaging, relevant, and creative partnerships at Pocket-lint where we ensure both sides win. We work with several partners but are always happy to work with more.
And with tech partners?
We are always looking to improve and enhance our tech offering working with partners that understand what we are trying to achieve at Pocket-lint: that the reader should always come first.
A lot of tech we are pitched doesn’t always align with that belief.
