Thrillist Media Group, the digital men’s lifestyle company dishing up everything from visual case studies on alcohol composition to foolproof ways to fight angst on red-eye flights, is banking business growth on branded content. Owner of myriad media and commerce properties that include JackThreads.com, a members-only men’s shopping site; Supercompressor, a newly launched Pinterest-esque buyer’s […]
Meredith Corp., the publisher of magazine brands such as Ladies’ Home Journal, Parents, Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, knows how to talk to women. With more than 18 titles, 100 special-interest publications and a digital audience of 50 million monthly visitors, the company is well-positioned to create unique marketing programs that engage its […]
Within IDG’s $3.55 billion global revenue across all businesses last year, its share of US online revenues remained stable at 66% in fiscal year 2013 from 2012. By contrast, the company’s US print share of revenues slipped to 19% last fiscal year, from 21%. Consequently, IDG intends to concentrate on its Web strength even more […]
Ever more companies on the buy side want to partner directly with publishers. Sell-side platforms (SSPs), ad networks, agencies, demand-side platforms (DSPs), retargeting networks and others have over the last year increased their efforts to gain visibility and direct inventory access. In a recent telling example, WPP Group’s Xaxis programmatic platform absorbed 24/7 Media to […]
Over the past few months, French real-time bidding (RTB) services provider AlephD has expanded work with AppNexus with particular focus on French publishers. Maxime Agostini, AlephD’s CEO, said that despite greater adoption of programmatic methods by advertisers there aren’t many services aimed at the sell side. Although AlephD is already integrated with AppNexus, Agostini said […]
As major publishers adopt programmatic methods to boost efficiency and cost-savings, one thing keeps them from putting more valuable inventory up for bid: The perceived lack of transparency in pricing. Consequently, an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) task force made up of publishers has been working on guidelines to clear up the fees and better define […]
Dan Lagani, the print ad sales veteran who joined lifestyle content network Glam Media as its chief revenue officer and president late last month (read the release), doesn’t feel there is a print vs. digital way of doing business anymore. “Digital has reached maturity, though it’s still early,” he said. “So I don’t even categorize […]
Just over two months ago, UK-based news outlet The Guardian unveiled the biggest step it has taken after four years of operating in the programmatic space: it opened its own publisher-side “trading desk.” Read the release. Created with help from MediaMath, The Guardian’s trading desk GuardianResponse+ will augment the news company’s existing programmatic tools, including its […]
Transacting advertising through real-time bidding and other automated methods is gaining ground with publishers and advertisers alike, but questions remain about how to leverage the technology as it continues to change. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) gathered executives from Google, CatalystDesk at Condé Nast, and Varick Media Management to hash out these issues with moderator […]
Publishers have increasingly embraced products that provide more insight into their inventory and help them manage their ad operations. Yesterday at a panel discussion moderated by Yieldex CRO Andrew Rutledge at ad:tech New York, executives from Fox News Digital, Viacom, Washington Post Digital and Turner Broadcasting discussed the tools they’re using to better leverage ad […]
Brian Sugar has ambitious plans for PopSugar.com, a celebrity news and pop culture media platform he founded with his wife, Lisa Sugar, some seven years ago. Specifically, he wants to drive more than $1 billion in sales next year to retail partners through ShopStyle, PopSugar.com’s content and commerce offshoot it acquired in 2007. That figure’s […]
The New York Times Co.’s digital ad revenue continued to slide in Q3 as, for the first time in recent years, print actually performed better. CEO Mark Thompson sought to put that contrast in context, saying that it was more a sign that the company had been able to arrest print losses as it works […]
Wenner Media, home to an iconic stable of titles that includes Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, still subscribes to a true publisher’s paradigm: “When you have great content, it all falls into place.” But it’s innovation in programmatic media buying that will enhance its properties’ brand equity and “will command better CPMs and […]
Over the past year, many sell-side ad-tech companies have offered publishers solutions around “programmatic direct.” Publisher analytics provider Yieldex has rolled out a simple tool called ” YieldEdge Sponsorship Calendar” that has been adopted in recent weeks by Comcast Spotlight, the local media sales arm of the cable giant. The product sounds fairly mundane, but it […]
In a striking coincidence, Turner Digital Ad Sales’ launch of its private marketplace comes a day after former ad chief Walker Jacobs, who regarded programmatic methods suspiciously, joined Clear Channel Outdoor as chief revenue officer and president of sales. In an interview with AdExchanger a year ago, Jacobs, who resigned as EVP, Turner Digital Sales […]
Keeping up with tech-savvy consumers who demand personalized experiences is a challenge for publishers and advertisers alike. Like other companies, health information provider WebMD realized it needed to revamp its advertising strategy with a greater focus on mobile devices and customizable features. Earlier this month, the company launched a new version of its app that […]
Spotify, the ad-supported music streaming service, has barely scratched the surface of its advertising capabilities, but the 7-year-old company is treading carefully. The streaming service is up to more than 24 million active users, a quarter of whom are premium subscribers, and earned $577 million in total revenue last year. Part of the Stockholm-based company’s […]
Todd Haskell began his new job as Hearst Magazine Digital’s chief revenue officer less than a month ago, joining the publisher of magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Elle and Good Housekeeping to manage the business side of the 28 related websites and 14 mobile properties. He previously served six years as the group VP of […]
In recent months, NYTimes.com has sought to refine its homepage ad strategy with the promise of something “unique” for large advertisers in consumer packaged goods, automotive, electronics and finance. The latest effort is on behalf of Bank of America and builds on the publisher’s evolving video strategy. The twist in this case is an “interactive” […]
Like a lot of midsize independent newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is starting to see some thaw in the economic downturn that hurt the print business at large. While the climate is better, the challenge of declining print ad revenues has been replaced by the challenge of developing a more mature online ad strategy. The […]
Lori Tavoularis, managing director for Revenue Partnerships at Tribune Digital, said she is ignoring the uncertainty around a possible sale of some or all of the newspaper division that houses her unit. Last week, according to The Daily Caller, Koch Industries decided to give up its pursuit of the newspaper chain, which was split from […]
A year after unveiling the Wall St. Journal’s private exchange, WSJ Audex, its parent company News Corp has expanded that model to cover the rest of its global publications. The News Corp Global Exchange, as its known, won’t replace WSJ Audex, but will instead serve as an umbrella over that offering and will include inventory […]
With 12 years experience in digital, Jeff Burkett has seen his share of sell-side ad tech at The Washington Post. His latest role, senior director of sales operations, is perhaps a sign of the times for the publishing world in general, as Burkett is now building his reach to the print side of “ops” while […]
Links may be the workhorses of a publisher’s marketing strategy, but to Pete Sheinbaum, former CEO of the online newsletter Daily Candy, they represent a multitude of opportunities. After the publisher was acquired by Comcast in 2008, Sheinbaum founded LinkSmart, which offers tools to help publishers manage and monetize their links. AdExchanger sat down with […]
In a surprise Monday afternoon announcement, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has struck a deal with the Washington Post Company to buy its namesake newspaper for $250 million. Read the release. The purchase comes just a few days after WaPo’s Q2 earnings demonstrated some slight income and revenue gains, though, as usual, that was due to […]
With unwavering digital-only focus, Anthony Hitchings, head of advertising technology and digital operations at FT.com, has had a front-row seat to the promises and pitfalls of programmatic media from within a large newspaper publisher’s online unit. “I see the programmatic space as providing a great opportunity for us. But there are ‘teething troubles,’ if you […]
While the New York Times Co.’s digital advertising revenue could have been worse in Q2, the publisher saw its display strategy continued to be challenged by what the company said was a “complex and fragmented” marketplace. Read the release (PDF). Digital ad sales brought in $51.2 million during the quarter, a decline of 2.7%. In […]
During the NYTCo’s Q1 earnings call in April, executives had discussed the possibility of a turnaround in the newspaper publisher’s display ad sales, particularly mobile, but analysts don’t expect a change any time soon. For now, it looks like more of the same, particularly for the company’s display ad sales, which fell 4% in Q1. […]
The combined media spending of Publicis Groupe and Omnicom would amount to roughly $53 billion, according to separate sets of data from Pivotal Research’s Brian Wieser and WPP analytics unit Kantar Media. That translates into a tremendous amount of buying clout. Major publishers across all media continued to absorb the news from this weekend about […]
As one of the country’s largest broadcast and newspaper owner, Gannett‘s Q2 results continue to perfectly demonstrate the promise and problems of media in transition: digital dollars are growing at a healthy 20% clip over last year, but it still only supplies 30% of the total revenues. Read the release (PDF). As the McLean, Va.-based […]
