Medium, the online publishing platform, experienced its first profitable month in August, marking a significant milestone for the company. Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine shared this news during the digital Medium Day 2024 conference and highlighted the platform’s growing membership base. While he did not disclose specific figures, Stubblebine mentioned that more members are subscribing to Medium’s paid plans than ever before.
Stubblebine had previously expressed his commitment to making Medium profitable this year. He credited the achievement to several factors, including cost-saving measures in server bills through improved engineering. However, the main driver of profitability was creating valuable content that members wanted to subscribe to. Stubblebine emphasized that even as they cut costs elsewhere, they prioritized paying writers more.
Founded in 2012, Medium has often faced criticism for hosting low-quality content, including get-rich-quick scams and listicles. However, the platform has made efforts to address this issue. In 2023, Medium launched Boost, an initiative aimed at curating high-quality articles for readers. Additionally, they strengthened their moderation efforts, removing over a million spam posts. Last month alone, Medium eliminated nearly ten million spam posts. The platform also introduced a program for published authors to verify their identity by claiming their books, with over 9,000 writers participating.
Medium has also expanded its partner program, which allows writers to earn money based on the engagement their stories receive from Medium’s member base. Recently, they introduced a higher-priced membership that enables users to directly support authors by paying more.
Notably, Medium has taken a different approach when it comes to generative AI. The company currently blocks AI crawlers from its site and has expressed the intention of collaborating with other platforms and publishers to address fair use in the age of AI.
Overall, Medium’s profitability in August signifies a positive shift for the platform. By focusing on creating valuable content, improving moderation efforts, and offering more support to writers, Medium has managed to attract a growing membership base and generate revenue. As they continue to explore new initiatives and address emerging challenges, Medium is positioning itself as a reliable and sustainable platform for both readers and writers.
