The last 12 months have been bumpy for whynow Media, but that could be said for anyone in digital publishing today.

The cost of living crisis has impacted magazine and luxury item sales; TV shows are being commissioned less; production budgets for their short-form documentaries on Great Big Story are incredibly tight, and to top it all, marketing budgets are smaller making their brands a tougher sell to partners.

But the small team at whynow Media has put its head down and managed to weather the storm, with success along the way.

Publishing isn’t an easy world, which is why the team has diversified into a few different sources of revenue to keep the business growing and making money.

Their core business of creating excellent magazine content through Film Stories and Rock Sound has continued, but merchandising is now a huge part of that offering. Fans can buy copies of the magazines along with exclusive t-shirts, cassette tapes (yes really) etc, which fly off the virtual shelves.

The team have hunted down those unique stories to tell as long form documentaries, like ‘The Club That George Built’, featuring George Dowell who bought Worthing FC and turned the club around. And what’s more they’ve had them commissioned and shown on major networks.

whynow Music works with artists to sell merchandise directly to their fans. By creating shorter runs of items there is less waste, which is important to an eco conscious audience. This year they launched a range of loose-leaf teas with The Kinks and also some unique ceramics to enjoy the tea from. With items to suit all budgets they were popular with the fans.

whynow Media have also moved into the events world too, launching the Independent Podcast Awards to great acclaim and picking up awards for the event itself along the way, and making money from year one.

They’re also making the business more focussed internally, to help with their growth plans. They’ve overhauled their staff review system, created a proper onboarding process and publish monthly staff newsletters keeping everyone in the loop.

The work is paying off. In the last 12 months they have:

• Had their documentary – ‘From Roger Moore, With Love’ - commissioned, made and shown on BBC 2 at 9pm on Christmas Day - a prime slot
• Their film ‘Rebel Country’ had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up by the BBC to be screened later this year
• Their brands have been nominated for and won countless awards, including Rock Sound at the Music Week Awards, Film Stories at the Publisher Podcast Awards, and Great Big Story winning a Webby Award
• Launched new collaborations with The Kinks, Big Special, and Mick Jagger
• Created a world-first with Rock Sound with copies of the magazine sold counting towards Sum 41’s album sales

All of which have increased their revenue, and their exposure to the outside world. Most importantly of all, they have shown that they understand their audience, and they like what the whynow Media team are doing.

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