Articles
Pivoting Brand Advertising Conversations With First-Party Data
As ad markets have weakened, there has been a significant pivot in ad spend from fluffier “brand campaigns” to more bottom of…
Vice Failed Because of Vice, Not Private Equity
When I was a kid, I couldn’t take accountability for anything. I did something wrong, I blamed someone else. I was always…
It’s Really Okay That Media Doesn’t Scale
There are any number of reasons why many of the big digital media companies failed. They relied on platforms for all their…
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Dotdash Meredith Makes Big Bet on Contextual Ads
Whether we like it or not, the third-party cookie is going to slowly meet its demise. Apple has already blocked many cookies…
Target Your Churned Subs for Additional Growth
One of the most commonly uttered phrases in business is that, “retaining a customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one.” And…
Deals Show Niche Is the Path Forward for Digital Media
There is a lot going on in the world of media. Vice has declared bankruptcy. Forbes has a buyer (sort of). The…
Ask Skift Is How You Make AI a Media Product
AI is going to disrupt the media business. If we look at technological innovations over the past 120 years that have directly…
The Platform Era is Dead. Long Live The Homepage!
How do you grow an audience? Ask any media professional who has been working in and around audience development for the past…
Real Distribution Allows for Creative Monetization
Since reading Ben Smith’s new book, Traffic, I’ve been thinking a lot about the quest for more traffic that many of the…
FT’s M&A Strategy; Workweek Jobs; Traffic Doomed Media
At the beginning of April, the Financial Times announced that it had acquired a majority stake in Endpoints News. It’s a big…
The Sales-Audience-Edit Teams Relationship
At one point in time, how a media company made money was completely foreign to reporters. The separation between church and state…
BuzzFeed News Never Built the Brand Loyalty It Needed
With the announcement that BuzzFeed News has officially shut down, it seems that the social-first era for news is coming to a…
Breaking Down Silos Has Never Been More Important
Hindsight’s a bitch. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve sat in meetings and heard someone say, “if we could…
Selling Could Be the New Trend Following Years of Acquisitions
There have been numerous companies that have experienced tremendous growth over the past few years through acquisitions. And that strategy likely made…
The Three Choices for Growing a Newsletter Business
The proliferation of newsletters has been incredible over the past few years. Thanks to the arrival of tools like Substack and Beehiiv,…
Has Substack’s Net Revenue Nearly Flat Lined?
The past week has been particularly news-heavy for Substack between it attempting to raise $5m+ from its unsuspecting writers to getting banned…
Media Companies Should Get Comfortable With Unique Monetization
Most discourse about media company monetization ultimately devolves into a debate about subscriptions vs. advertising. Most of us know by now that…
Multiple Deals Show Opportunity in Niche Media
While much ink is spilled on whether or not Vice will go bankrupt or if BuzzFeed can introduce another AI gimmick to…