In 2014 freelance journalist Duncan Greive decided to launch a website writing about New Zealand television and culture. He called it The Spinoff. The brief soon widened to include business and politics with adventures in audio and video.
The staff grew from two to 30. This week they celebrate the decade with a Friday night party. Along the journey, The Spinoff has chronicled the many challenges faced by other New Zealand media businesses including the changing fortunes of Australian and multi-national players in that market.
Mediaweek visited Greive recently at the group’s impressive Auckland HQ. He shared his insights about growing the business and opening a tech and creative studio.
How The Spinoff thrived after launch, profits, and keeping a ‘wildcat spirit’
Duncan Greive: We definitely had no ambition to become a big business. I assumed we’d be done in a couple of years – but I think that sense of freedom led to a creativity which ultimately helped us differentiate our product, and thrive.
In terms of break even, we launched with one good contract, and built from there. With one Covid-era exception, we’ve been in the black the whole way through. Even though we’re a much larger and more professional organisation now, I still think we retain some of the wildcat spirit of our early years.
Early signs The Spinoff was onto something
Our young phenom of a staff writer, Alex Casey, wrote a charged opinion piece after a radio DJ made a pretty low-grade remark on social media. It was so well-written and well-argued that it became a juggernaut. It hit 80,000 views, was endorsed by a bunch of prominent women in New Zealand, and within 24 hours our puny servers crashed under the weight of the traffic. That definitely made us feel like we had a powerful voice, when we used it in the right way. It also convinced me to upgrade our infrastructure.
No outside investment: all growth organic
We’ve never had outside investment – it’s all been organic: sweat, a strong work ethic, creativity and the vision of our people, audience and partners.
Duncan Greive.
Top photo with Amber Easby
Staff growth and good relationships
We had two staff at launch, and now have around 30 FTE, most in Auckland, but a few in Wellington, Ōtautahi and Ōtepoti too. We’ve had staff come and go, and some have started Substacks, but none compete directly, and most we collaborate with still. We have good relations with the vast majority of those who’ve ever worked here, and have had multiple people leave and return, including our editor, Madeleine Chapman.
Expansion and management
My job title now is founder, but I don’t run any of the businesses. Amber Easby is CEO of The Spinoff, while Lee Lowndes is CEO of Daylight, our creative and digital agency (it works with a number of media brands, including Stuff in NZ, and The Daily Aus and The Squizz in Australia). I feel very grateful to them both, they’re outstanding leaders – diligent, energetic and visionary.
Managing staff
There’s been many good people decisions, but it’s hard to go past hiring Alex Casey. She had such a brilliant and singular style, that it feels like the site just wouldn’t have blossomed without her. So many of our people work here because they read Alex and loved her work. Worst decision was hiring too fast during the Covid-era economy. With hindsight I should have been able to see that microclimate for the temporary weather it was. It was painful to unwind.
The Spinoff 2024: Easby front and centre, Greive back right
Will The Spinoff remain a free site?
We have contemplated a paywall, and wouldn’t rule it out in future – but we think our content sings because it’s free.
Reader donations are crucial to the model
Between 30%-40% of the annual revenue comes from donations?
How big is the commercial team?
We have a six-strong commercial team. We actually don’t get much conventional advertising revenue – the bulk is content partnerships of different forms. We perform well with banks and telcos, along with finance and investment – but we also get a lot of government work and collaborate well with NGOs too. We know we have a really valuable, principled and relatively young and urban audience. They support us, and the market wants to speak to them.
Social media and Substack
We have transitioned away from a heavy early reliance on social, so direct traffic is now huge for us. Substack is often our second-biggest referrer, as we run most of our newsletters that way – and have over 100,000 subscribers. We largely view search and social as found money – other channels are where our real and loyal audience live.
Are you having a big party?
A huge party, yeah. There’s a fantastic old school movie theatre near us. We’re inviting 400 of our closest friends to celebrate 10 years on Friday the 13th. Hopefully it’s not a bad sign…
Amber Easby
The Spinoff’s leadership team
Chief executive Amber Easby tells Mediaweek about the leadership team at the group.
The Spinoff’s team has evolved over the last 18 months, since I came on as CEO. Our editorial department, now responsible for all content production, is led by our brilliant editor, Madeleine Chapman. Mad started as an intern back in 2016. She became The Spinoff’s third editor in 2021 – following in the footsteps of our founder Duncan and Toby Manhire, now our editor-at-large. At just 27, Mad became the youngest editor of a major media organisation in New Zealand, and her commitment to nurturing young writers and editors has had a profound impact on our entire company.
Anna Rawhiti-Connell, who previously edited The Bulletin, now spearheads the audience team – driving our membership program, audience revenue initiatives, and product development. Her strategic acumen is unparalleled. Eli Rivera, our head of commercial, took on her role when I became CEO. Despite a challenging operating environment, our commercial team has produced extraordinary results under her leadership. Most recently, Sophie Dowson stepped into the role of General Manager. Previously our Head of Video, Sophie has already contributed immensely to The Spinoff’s success, and I am incredibly excited about the future with her in this pivotal position.
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