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Good morning! It's Thursday, October 26th. Today, we are looking at media entrepreneur Craig Fuller and how he’s leveraging the subscriber base of publications like FreightWaves, Flying, and Sailing World to make millions.

THE FEATURE

Craig Fuller– From Media Mogul to Residential Developer

When people think of media moguls, names like Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner usually come to mind.

While outside the cable news space, Fuller has created his own media empire with publications like FreightWaves, Flying, Sailing World, and others.

But what’s even more interesting is his latest venture, a residential community for pilots that he’s poured $1B into!

So, What’s the Business?

Fuller has been immersed in the shipping industry since he was a child, as his father was the founder of one of America’s largest truckload carriers, US Xpress. Fuller worked at his father’s company but left in 2016 to start FreightWaves.

Instead of entering the shipping industry, which is highly competitive, Fuller set out to create a media outlet that provided news on the global supply chain as well as real-time data analytics for the North American freight market.

FreightWaves was the first publication to specifically cater to the shipping industry and, as a result, has quickly monopolized the space. From 2019 to 2022, the company has experienced exponential revenue growth of 231% and generated $44M in revenue last year.

Though FreighWaves makes money from selling advertising space on its news site, the company’s largest source of revenue comes from selling data analytics software to its readers. Fuller believes that in the next three years, data subscriptions to programs like FreightWaves SONAR will account for 80% of total revenue.

As an aspiring media mogul, Fuller expanded his horizons in 2021 with the purchase of FLYING magazine, the most popular magazine among pilots.

Two days ago, Fuller announced another big expansion. FLYING is now acquiring Bonnier’s marine magazines and broadcast brands like Sailing World, Yachting, Cruising World, and Salt Water. Each of these publications is a leader in its category.

With the latest acquisition, Fuller now has a media empire of leading publications across the shipping, boating, and aviation industries.

How They Win: Creating a Community and Sell Them a Product

We briefly mentioned that FreightWaves’ primary revenue stream comes from selling software, not subscriptions and advertising.

As Fuller has continued to purchase leading publications in niche industries, his business model has become much clearer. While he is certainly acquiring successful publications, what he is really after is the opportunity to upsell to their passionate subscriber bases.

We don’t know what products he plans to sell to readers of his marine magazines, but we do know that he’s spending $1B to construct a luxury fly-in resort and residential community for pilots.

The pilot residential community is called The Fields at Fall Creek and features a 4,200-foot airstrip, 800 homes, and plenty of aircraft hangars.

While the idea may sound crazy, Fuller found that there was a genuine desire among aviation enthusiasts to live with their planes. And, with detailed articles on Fields at Fall Creek from FLYING magazine, Fuller has already sold a substantial number of homes before the project’s completion.

Key Observations

Media companies have always relied on subscribers and advertisers to generate revenue, but Fuller identified a more lucrative path forward for his empire.

By acquiring leading publications across niche industries, Fuller has direct access to passionate hobbyists and professionals. With that access, he can understand where the consumer demand lies in the respective sector and cater to it with his own products.

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