Owned Media Is The New Marketing Moat

Picture of Albert S. Bitton

Albert S. Bitton

20 year B2B Content Marketing Veteran, Management Consultant, Advisor & Founder
Owned Media graphic surrounded by a moat in a forest

Owning Media - The New Marketing Moat

For years, businesses have invested heavily in content, in owned media, in search, in paid ads that hopefully convert; only to hand over distribution to platforms where they don’t control audience access. But the reality of content marketing and audience reach is shifting. Organic reach is declining. Algorithms are tightening. AI threatens traditional discovery channels and reshaping how people discover information. 

As audience reach and content distribution becomes more volatile, the following strategy is becoming impossible to ignore: owned media and owning access to your audience is truly a competitive advantage; owning your audience distribution channels builds your moat. 

We call this advantage Audienceship: a strategic blend of audience and ownership; the power to control access to your audience, not rent it from platforms.

More and more companies are starting to build out this strategy, including buying complementary media assets and properties.

Are we advocating not using paid platforms, social media channels or even stop using search platforms? Of course not, that would be silly. However, tying your entire business to how high you rank on Google search or your paid media budget will eventually end up in disaster. Rather, we are suggesting that Audienceship is the new moat. A protective barrier around your brand. A durable asset that amplifies your content, lowers your acquisition costs, and gives you independence from platforms you can’t control.

Table of Contents

What Businesses Get Wrong About Owning or Renting Access to Their Audience

Social media, search engines, and AI tools offer access, but they own the relationship, and in most cases, the data as well. At any moment, the algorithm can change. Your reach can vanish. And the audience you worked so hard to build can slip out of sight. Alternatively, you can pay to play and get attention almost immediately, but trust and engagement suffer.

Relying on these third-party platforms means you’re always playing on borrowed ground. And the longer you stay dependent, the more vulnerable your business becomes. If you don’t have direct access, you don’t have real control. And without control, you can’t build long-term value from your content efforts.

Even experienced marketers often misunderstand the difference between visibility and control. As a result, they make avoidable mistakes that leave them dependent on platforms they don’t own and vulnerable to shifts they can’t predict. Here are some common missteps:

Mistaking Reach for Access
Thousands of followers doesn’t mean you can reach or engage them. Visibility isn’t the same as a relationship.

Believing Free Traffic Will Stay Free
Organic reach is declining. Search platforms are shifting toward AI answers and more page real estate is dedicated to paid visibility; leaving less room for page 1 rankings. Besides, building your business model based on search traffic google provides is a recipe for disaster.

Building on Rented Land
If your content lives primarily on social media or paid networks, you’re not building your own business—you’re building theirs.

Underestimating the Cost of Reacquisition
Losing access means paying to reach people again, often at a higher cost than the first time.

Underestimating the Value of Audienceship
Owning audience access changes everything; customer loyalty, launch effectiveness, LTV, trust, engagement, leads, etc.

“One of the greatest risks in marketing isn’t being ignored, it’s spending years building an audience, only to hand it over to platforms we don’t control. Sometimes, you don’t need a bigger audience. You simply need better access to the one you already have. Owned-Media is not only smart, it’s self-defense.”

 

The Audience Access Hierarchy

Not all audience connections are created equal. Some channels give you full control over communication, timing and data, while others merely offer basic visibility or expensive reach. To make smart, long-term marketing decisions, it’s essential to understand how much control you actually have over your audience reach across different platforms and formats.

That’s where the Audience Access Hierarchy comes in. We categorized channels into five levels based on how much access and ownership you have—from full access and ownership (Level 1) to completely rented (Level 5).

The goal is simple: to help you identify where your current audience lives, where you’re most vulnerable and where to focus next to strengthen your marketing reach. We first provide a summary of each level and then provide further details within the graphic below.

Level 1 – Full Access & true Owned-media Ownership

  • You fully control the platform, data and timing. No intermediaries.
  • Examples: Email list, CRM, SMS, owned media communities, gated content, webinars you host, media properties you own

Level 2 — Strong Access: Platform-Mediated, But Reliable

  • You depend on a platform, but you have a persistent, repeatable connection with the audience.
  • Examples: YouTube subscribers, LinkedIn newsletters, Slack groups, Substack (with export)

Level 3 — Moderate Access: Discoverable, not consistent

  • You’re visible, but your audience access is inconsistent and algorithm-driven.
  • Examples: Social media followers, podcast downloads without email opt-in, unconverted blog traffic

Level 4 — Weak Access: One-Time Exposure

  • You earn exposure, but you don’t own or retain the audience.
  • Examples: Ai summaries, Guest posts, press mentions, podcast appearances

Level 5 — No Access Without Paying: Purely Rented Attention

  • You’re buying attention. The moment you stop paying, the connection ends.
  • Examples: Paid search and display ads, retargeting, sponsored content

Paths to Owning Access to Your Audience

Understanding where you stand in the Audience Access Hierarchy is a start. The next step is building, or reclaiming, greater control over your audience. Whether you’re just getting started or optimizing an established strategy, we put together a few options that will help you move your audience relationships closer to Level 1: full access & ownership.

1. Grow Your Audience Organically (and Intentionally)

This is the foundational path to audience ownership and the most sustainable over time. But it only works if you deliberately guide anonymous visitors into known relationships.

Recommendations:

  • Create opt-ins for high-value content that audiences definitely want to download. The more you offer content that helps audiences with their challenges, the more engaged they will be. These can include industry or job specific buyer guides, RFP templates, industry-specific checklists, how-to guides or tools. These not only attract qualified traffic but provide a natural opt-in point to your email list.

  • Create content hubs. Essentially creating a learning center for your audience to learn how to better do their job, how to better use your product/service, etc. These learning hubs are filled with as much information for audiences to feel they have enough information to make an informed buying decision or enough to be better at the job they are doing. Each page would include clear CTAs for subscribing to newsletters, downloading gated content, or joining webinars.

  • Build or provide free useful tools for your audience to use. Every industry has something to measure, provide some kind of calculator. Provide template spreadsheets, chrome extension, a plugin or any tool that automates. As long as the tool is useful it can generate thousands of engagement points where you can drive CTAs.  

Why it matters:
Organic audience growth compounds. It lowers customer acquisition costs and gives you an owned channel you can tap into at any time. This path builds trust gradually and can become one of the most powerful distribution engines over time.

2. Build a Media Brand Within Your Business

Becoming a destination, not just a vendor, is one of the fastest ways to shift from being discovered occasionally to being followed consistently. A media brand captures ongoing attention, authority and direct access. Think Hubspot Learning center. They didn’t simply build a blog about their CRM. What started as a content hub became a complete learning center for small businesses, online businesses to learn marketing.

Recommendations:

  • Launch a content property with a distinct editorial voice (e.g., a blog, podcast, video series, or newsletter) that reflects your audience’s needs, not just your product.

  • Develop content series instead of one-offs. Examples include monthly industry briefings, customer spotlight interviews, or behind-the-scenes product walkthroughs.

  • Provide valuable content to download as your primary audience capture mechanism. 

Why it matters:
Media brands attract and retain attention better than regular corporate blogs or content. They position your business as a thought leader while attracting your ideal audience (without paying ad networks to drive them to you).

3. Acquire an Audience That Already Exists

Audience acquisition through media M&A or partnerships is a high-leverage move for companies that want to scale faster. It bypasses the slow build phase and brings in an audience that is already knowledgeable and engaged with your type of products or services. 

Recommendations:

  • Look for media that already reach your ideal audience, but aren’t monetized to their full potential. (or else they will cost too much for you to purchase)

  • Targets can be generic or industry specific. For instance, if you sell software to the small business sector, then acquiring a small business blog with 100,000 subscriber list makes sense. If you sell a project management tool, purchasing a site with project manager memberships make sense.

  • Further examples include: 

    • newsletters, blog specific sites, podcasts, events & conferences, online webinar sites, content apps, membership sites, groups in your niche, affiliate sites with subscribers or members, etc

  • How to think of targets: Think of complementary businesses or media that you would love to partner with because they have your ideal audience as subscribers. Now consider acquiring them instead.

Remember to verify engagement metrics of the properties you are considering acquiring. Such as open rates, unsubscribes, social sharing, content downloads, etc. A large but inactive list has limited value.

Why it matters:
Buying audience properties accelerates trust and access. It also allows you to bypass search, Ad and social platform dependency. 

4. Build a Community 

Online communities give your audience a space to engage with peers, share challenges and connect with your brand beyond content. Done right, they can become retention engines.

Recommendations:

  • Choose a platform that fits your audience’s behavior: Slack or Discord for fast-paced professional conversations; Circle or Facebook for structured discussions; Thinkific and Skool for courses.

  • Seed the community with ambassadors, power users, or early adopters who can model participation and spark conversation.

  • Offer value that isn’t available anywhere else, such as exclusive content, product betas, private training or networking opportunities.

Why it matters:
Communities aren’t just for retention. They are also leveraged as audience listening/analysis tools. Yes, they take investment in time, content and engagement. However, they give your audience a reason to return and interact and provides you with a platform you can control.

5. Integrate Audiences Into Your Product

One of the most underutilized paths to audience access ownership is the product itself. Your app or platform is a direct line to your audience and users. It is the perfect place to deepen relationships. Yet too many simply use it as the product sales vehicle or the product utilization tool instead of building engagement with your existing audience. This is especially true for products/services that offer freemium or trial options.

Recommendations:

  • Use onboarding process to drive newsletter signups, demo requests, or product education series. Capture attention of the audience while motivation is high.

  • Offer downloadable tools or special features (like templates, scripts, or reports) in exchange for opt-in.

Why it matters:
Integrating audience building into your product experience creates a seamless relationship building process. You are able to turn users into subscribers and subscribers into customers within your own ecosystem that you control.

 

“Tech companies are not just publishing content - they're buying media companies to own access to their ideal audience.”

Popular Brands That Have Recently Acquired Media Companies

From SEO tools to fintech platforms, some very popular brands are snapping up niche publishers, newsletters, podcasts and communities. These acquisitions are all strategic moves to build Audienceship: the power to control access to their audience, not rent it from platforms.

Here’s a look at some of the brands who have made acquisitions recently, why it matters and what you can learn from their strategy.

1. Semrush → Backlinko & Third Door Media

  • Type: SEO & content marketing platform
  • Acquisitions: Backlinko (2022), Third Door Media (2024)
  • Why it matters: Semrush gained instant credibility and content reach by acquiring two respected SEO and marketing publications. It now owns both education and distribution in its niche. Instead of buying ads on someone else’s platforms to reach their ideal audience, they can simply reach out to a massive audience they now have full access to.

2. HubSpot → The Hustle

  • Type: CRM & marketing automation
  • Acquisition: The Hustle (2021)
  • Why it matters: HubSpot embedded media into its brand, gaining direct access to a loyal daily newsletter audience that aligns perfectly with its customer base. Again, instead of buying access to the same audience, they now own it and can market to it as they see fit.

3. Wonder → Tastemade

  • Type: Online platform (food & content)
  • Acquisition: Tastemade (2025)
  • Why it matters: Wonder acquired a content brand with massive food-centric reach to create a “mealtime super app” combining content, community and commerce. Wonder can now reach their ideal customers through Tastemade without having to pay for that access everytime.

4. Zapier → Makerpad

  • Type: SaaS (no-code automation)
  • Acquisition: Makerpad (2021)
  • Why it matters: Zapier acquired a high-trust community and educational brand that aligned with its mission to simplify automation without code.

5. Pendo → Product Collective

  • Type: Product Analytics & User Onboarding
  • Acquisition: Product Collective (2024) – A trusted media and events platform for product managers, including the Industry conference, newsletters, and online resources.
  • Why it matters: Pendo deepened its position in the product management ecosystem by acquiring a content-rich, community-led brand. This acquisition gives Pendo control over an ideal audience. 

6. FOSSA → StackShare

  • Type: Open-Source License Compliance & Security
  • Acquisition: StackShare (2024) – A platform for developers to compare software stacks, with over 1.5 million monthly active users.
  • Why it matters: With this acquisition, FOSSA gained a developer-focused discovery platform—effectively turning StackShare into a developer education and lead-generation engine while reinforcing their position in their industry.
  • Transforms media traffic into a lead generation channel

 

Why These Acquisitions Matter

These deals reflect a smart approach to audience reach, lead generation and growth. Instead of only renting attention from search engines, social platforms or ad networks, these companies are building a strategic advantage by owning access to their audience.

  • Faster trust building: You acquire an audience that already believes in the messenger.
  • Content leverage: Content becomes your main lead generation mechanism and not just a way to attract an audience.
  • Platform independence: You reduce your reliance on SEO volatility, algorithm shifts, Ai and ad spend.

Audienceship Is the New Moat

After two decades in content and inbound marketing, I’ve seen one truth repeat itself: the brands that win long-term are the ones that build continuous access to their audience, not just moments of attention and certainly not those who’s business model only counts on traffic from search engines or paid ads.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of chasing reach and publishing for algorithms, boosting posts, or waiting for search engines to bless your content. However, you are still renting space in someone else’s ecosystem that you cannot control.

In a world where content is everywhere, attention is fragmented and platform costs increase, if you want your marketing to have a direct relationship with your audience and to reduce dependency on third-party platforms then investing in Audienceship is becoming a competitive necessity.

  • Start building your moat by auditing where you sit in the Audience Access Hierarchy.
  • Identify gaps and prioritize strategies that give you more control: grow your list, launch a newsletter, build a media layer, acquire a community, or bring education into your product.
  • You don’t have to do it all at once, but you should definitely start.

Remember, what you are buying or building is distribution, trust and permission—three things that are increasingly difficult to build from scratch in today’s crowded marketplace. In the long run, the real power belongs to the businesses that don’t just create content, but rather own the channels it lives on. Your ability to own access to your audience may be the most valuable asset your brand can build.

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