Time Out’s Stacy Bettman on giving readers access to local treasures

Everyone has experienced the joys of finding local gems while visiting a new city. For 55 years, Time Out Media has curated those locally-approved spots for tourists, growing its operation from a kitchen table in London to a global setup across 333 cities and 59 countries.

Joining The Current Podcast, CEO Stacy Bettman notes that the global media brand has been able to evolve over the years because it has stayed true to its DNA.

Now as generative AI looms across headlines, threatening to disrupt publishing with its ability to write articles in seconds, Bettman affirms the secret to success is the human touch it provides.

“The inside look that nobody else can give you is because we do have so many experts and journalists and local editors on the ground able to look around the corner and find the speakeasy that's behind the ice cream shop,” Bettman says. “And that is not machine learning. That is experiential.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, Bettman shares how the company is a global publisher that focuses on being local experts, its transition from print to digital, and how the brand evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic while life was at a standstill for so many around the world.