This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the pressures of creating content for the internet, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
Almost exactly a decade ago, the media industry was in the middle of a video revolution - or so it thought. In the mid-2010s, publications poured money into burgeoning social media video efforts, chasing the promise of reaching larger audiences and opening new lines of revenue. Print publications and digital news outlets alike hired teams, pumped out c …