The media continue to evolve and consolidate, as do all businesses. This month’s issue of Florida Trend features two pieces on new media. One highlights four YouTube stars from Florida; the other focuses on rising online publisher The Penny Hoarder. All are amazing success stories.
Just a few short years ago, Penny Hoarder founder Kyle Taylor was buried in a mountain of debt. He started a blog that has evolved into a business that generates revenue of just under $40 million. The revenue comes from sponsored content — advertisers pay to have links in some articles about how their companies help people make or save money. See the feature.
The YouTube stars in this month's feature have similar stories. They started with a hobby, posting some videos, before things took off. Their sites now attract millions of subscribers and views. These young entrepreneurs now make tens of thousands of dollars a month.
We’ve married these articles with a TopRank listing of the biggest newspapers in Florida. While the list is impressive, you might be surprised to know that circulations have fallen 40% since we published a similar list in 2009.
Through the downturn in print media, Florida Trend remains strong. The magazine enjoys just over 250,000 print readers each month and has been in the black every year, albeit modestly. Yet the digital pull is strong. Florida Trend has a Daily Pulse e-newsletter each morning with more than 46,000 recipients; just last year we started three new weekly e-newsletters on education, health care and executive transition. We’ll start a weekly real estate e-newsletter next month; a couple more will follow. Sign up for free.
Professors make business schools hum. Whether they teach project management, train students in innovation or teach about the importance of networking, Florida’s business professors are the glue that holds b-schools together. See our feature on MBA professors.
Cancer is the scourge of America, but Floridians are fortunate enough to live in the third-largest state, where we have world-class centers devoted to defeating this disease.
For example, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa are using re-engineered T-cells called CAR-T gene therapy to destroy cancer. And Baptist’s Miami Cancer Institute, now celebrating its first anniversary, is among a handful of centers in Florida using proton therapy to treat patients. The treatment, which delivers targeted doses of radiation, has fewer side effects than traditional treatments.
See our latest coverage of cancer care. The feature wraps up with a list of cancer treatment centers in Florida.
Our legislators seem to be against anything promoting economic development. I sit on the board of Enterprise Florida and thus must be biased, but why in the world would the Legislature be so against encouraging commerce and tourism? Their bills are weakening our hand when competing against other states for jobs and capital. They are discouraging people like myself from donating our time to bringing more businesses to Florida. They are trying to take authority away from cities and counties that want to market their own communities for business investment. And these are Republicans?
Fitness Update: Continuing knee problems are limiting me to the gym, where I exercise on the stationary bike and do light weight lifting and such. Not as much fun.
— Andy Corty
Publisher
[acorty@floridatrend.com]
See other stories from Florida Trend's March issue.
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