Albie Amankona is a broadcaster, financial analyst and political activist. He is an FFF Voice for Freedom - our group of young advocates fighting for liberty, freedom, and free markets.
I’ve been a financial analyst covering technology, media, and telecoms for as long as I’ve been a broadcaster. There are some things too few people working in media understand about the economics of their own industry. I was sad to hear that Allison Pearson, Liam Halligan, and other talented big names are reportedly leaving The Telegraph as part of Axel Springer’s restructuring. I say this as someone who thinks Liam and Allison are outstanding, and I’m devastated for everyone affected by job cuts across traditional media. Anyone following the balance sheets saw this coming a mile off.
Predictably, commentators have tried to paint this restructuring as a political plot to dilute the paper’s ideological stance. Sincerely, corporate finance does not care about politics unless it impacts their financial returns. Axel Springer is considered right-wing or centre-right in Germany. It’s essentially the German equivalent of News Corp, which owns The Sun, The Times, and TalkTV. There is no left-wing conspiracy here, just a story of cold, hard cash.
Traditional media has a structural problem that isn’t going away. Overall advertising expenditure may grow modestly, yet traditional media’s share is declining as businesses divert spending towards Meta, Google, and other digital walled gardens, alongside audio, out-of-home advertising, and sponsorship. Meanwhile, linear audiences, newspaper circulation, and subscriber numbers are either flat or declining. The foundational challenge is demographic: Gen Z and Millennials simply do not subscribe to or buy print media in the way previous generations did. Within the next 15 to 20 years, a significant portion of The Telegraph’s current subscriber base will inevitably be gone.
If traditional media companies cannot grow top-line revenues, they have little choice but to tackle their cost base. Their largest line item is almost always staff. When a new owner restructures a business, expensive broadcasters and marquee columnists face a simple, dispassionate question: are you worth your salary, or could we yield similar content and audience retention from someone younger and cheaper? I can easily imagine corporate conversations asking whether younger talent could replicate established columnists for a fraction of the cost. That is not a criticism of individual talent; sometimes brilliance does not correlate with income. Sentiment alone does not pay the bills.
My view is that news personalities are far easier to replace than entertainment personalities. We are not unique, and neither is our product. I wouldn’t compare Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May leaving Top Gear to launch The Grand Tour to columnists leaving a publication or presenters leaving a news and current affairs show. When Clarkson, Hammond, and May left the BBC, the audience followed them to Amazon Prime because their irreplaceable chemistry was the core product. Top Gear spent years struggling to replace that specific magic.
In contrast, audience loyalty to a news brand outlives individual presenters. I still watch Politics Live and Question Time religiously even though Jo Coburn and David Dimbleby have left. Replacing news talent is a risky strategy for publishers, though every corporate decision carries risk and reward.
Given these headwinds, it is worth questioning whether The Telegraph’s trajectory would look different today had its acquisition played out differently. It is now owned by Axel Springer, a traditional media conglomerate facing these exact industry pressures and making aggressive, market-driven cuts. Had RedBird IMI, backed by Abu Dhabi capital, been allowed to buy it instead, the outcome likely would not have been as drastic.
While technically categorised as private equity, RedBird IMI is structurally distinct from traditional PE firms that rely on a “buy, strip, lever, and flip” model over a strict three- to five-year timeline. Instead, RedBird IMI operates on a permanent capital, industrially driven joint venture blueprint. Crucially, its funding by the deep pockets of the UAE royal family isolates it from immediate commercial pressures, allowing it to absorb short-term losses in pursuit of a long-term strategy.
There is a distinct irony in how this played out. Many of the most vocal opponents of the RedBird IMI bid were driven by fears of foreign state-backed ownership. Yet, as a direct result of that opposition, The Telegraph was ultimately sold to a foreign commercial corporate entity. Because Axel Springer is entirely reliant on market forces rather than state backing, it is now forced to make harsh decisions that threaten the very institution the RedBird deal’s critics were trying to protect.
The decline of traditional media also presents an enormous opportunity, because that is where the real money is going to be made. The creator economy is booming. Substack, podcasting, YouTube, TikTok, and AI have made producing and distributing high-quality content cheaper and easier than ever. And for anyone hoping to actually make serious money in the creator economy, the revenue isn’t just coming from programmatic ad reads; the real money lies in commercial partnerships, brand sponsorships, direct-to-consumer (D2C) products, merchandise, and live events. We’ve already seen the commercial success of former traditional media stars like Piers Morgan, Megyn Kelly, and Dan Wootton, alongside digital giants like Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart with The Rest Is Politics, selling out massive arenas like the O2. Who would have imagined a decade ago that this could be possible in venues typically reserved for global pop icons like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Britney Spears.
Despite the popularity of podcasts like Planet Normal (I listen to it myself), legacy corporate owners rarely view them as major revenue drivers or high-margin contributors to the core print business. The calculation the new owners will have made is simple: how many people pay to subscribe to The Telegraph solely for content given away for free in a podcast feed? That is why I wouldn’t be surprised if Axel Springer hands over the Planet Normal IP to Allison and Liam as part of their exit package. My advice to anyone working in broadcasting or journalism is simple: build your own audience, diversify your income, and make yourself commercially valuable beyond your employer. The direction of travel is clear, and those who get ahead of it will be the ones who thrive.
Albie Amankona is a broadcaster, financial analyst and political activist. He is an FFF Voice for Freedom - our group of young advocates fighting for liberty, freedom, and free markets. He is the co-founder of Conservatives Against Racism and a member of the General Council for LGBT+ Conservatives. He can be followed on X through @albieamankona
Good advice in that final paragraph and a very interesting perspective on the Telegraph situation, thank you Albie!
From a consumer perspective Substack and the creator economy offers us diversified thought and opinions and freer speech which is refreshing and much needed.
Media organisations are arguably better value in that one subscription gets you access to, say 10 writers for the equivalent price of a Substack and a broader platform on which to comment and interact.
That said, Substack gives you freedom to choose to fund and support what you actually read/enjoy and none of what you don't.
I like the changing ecosystem and am very glad that Substack is disrupting the industry and providing a voice and a business to so many independent writers.