One Year In, The Wall Street Journal’s Buy Side Is Fine-Tuning Its Affiliate Strategy

The business publisher The Wall Street Journal launched its affiliate commerce arm, Buy Side, last June, in a bid to parlay its recommendation authority and affluent readership into a new source of revenue. One year later, despite a broader pullback in consumer spending, the division has found its commercial footing, refined its audience strategy and…

How The Guardian US Fetched Ad Revenue Hike of 42% Despite Broader Downturn

The U.S. outpost of the general news publisher The Guardian finished the first quarter of its fiscal year, which ended June 30, with advertising revenues up 42% year over year, according to senior vice president of advertising Luis Romero. The hikes buck common trends most publishers are seeing. The publisher wouldn’t share financial specifics, but…

If You Give a Damn About Your Brand Reputation, Get Back Into News

As far as big-brand Pride campaigns go, The North Face’s latest was fairly innocuous: drag queen Pattie Gonia inviting viewers to “come out” into the wilderness as part of its Summer of Pride campaign. “Nature lets you be who you are,” The North Face cheerfully posted on Instagram. What followed was a chorus of stories…

GARM, Ad Net Zero Release Action Plan for Sustainable Media at Cannes

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and Ad Net Zero have unveiled a new plan for addressing media’s climate impact: The GARM Sustainability Action Guide to Reduce Media Greenhouse Gas Emissions. While the framework stops short of defining specific standards and common tools for measurement, it’s a step toward a standardized methodology for media…

3 Secrets to Community Engagement From E.l.f. Beauty and Hartbeat

CANNES, France–On the surface, e.l.f. Beauty and Hartbeat–the entertainment company founded by comedian Kevin Hart–may appear to have little in common. But the two brands share an adeptness at building passionate communities of fans. “We create an orbit that people want to be part of. We transcend the products we sell,” said e.l.f. Beauty chief…

Brands Need a Strategy Change to Reach Hispanic Audiences

In the past five years, the Hispanic community has seen a steep drop in how Latinos feel their values are shared or reflected by big brands, according to research from the We Are All Human Foundation and Nielsen, in partnership with Toluna and TelevisaUnivision. The latest Hispanic Sentiment Study, revealed today at Cannes Lions, found…

How Danone and Discover Are Supporting Diverse Publishers

Consumer packaged goods brand Danone North America and credit card firm Discover have joined advertising platform Kargo’s Multicultural Content Amplifier (MCA) Program to drive more media spend toward diverse-owned publishers, beginning members of the Black Owned Media Equity & Sustainability Institute (Bomesi). Kargo’s program, which will launch July 1, offers diverse-owned publishers a mix of…

Beyond Attention Metrics: Why We Need a Consumer-First Media Ecosystem

For advertisers, attention is emerging as the new standard for evaluating ad effectiveness. But with the average person spending seven hours online every day–browsing, chatting, watching or working across multiple devices–and seeing anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 ads in that time, standing out in an era of distraction is no easy feat. Pre-dating the internet…

Exclusive: Brand USA Names Indie Agency R&R Its New Media Agency of Record

Brand USA, a large tourism brand, awarded its media business to the independent media agency R&R on Dec. 15, following a review that formally began with an RFP issued Sept. 8. The business moved out of GroupM’s EssenceMediacom, and with the transition complete, R&R is now managing media strategy, planning and buying for the brand….

Yahoo Lets Advertisers Buy Based on Attention With Adelaide Tie Up

Yahoo and attention vendor Adelaide are letting advertisers buy high-attention pre-bid segments through the Yahoo demand-side platform, according to Yahoo chief revenue officer Elizabeth Herbst-Brady. This is the latest industry move focused on elevating attention-based advertising, which should, if successful, make ads more effective, improve the reading experience and, ultimately, lead to higher revenues for…

Time Hires Mark Howard as Its New Chief Operating Officer, Ushering in ‘Time 3.0’

The general news publisher Time has hired media executive Mark Howard as its new chief operating officer, according to a memo shared by chief executive officer Jessica Sibley. Howard, who will relocate to New York for the position, begins Monday. In the role, Howard will oversee operations including print, digital, technology, consumer marketing, ecommerce, licensing,…

With Its Frequency Tool, The Financial Times Fine-Tunes Ad Exposure

With the planned deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome coming next year, The Financial Times is using a solution designed to help marketers replace–and potentially improve upon–one of the cookies’ most vital functions: ad frequency capping. And early indications of its success are encouraging. Introduced earlier this year, the publisher’s frequency optimization tool aims to…

Despite Increased Ad Spend, Some Black Publishers Question Brands’ Strategy

Brands and marketing agencies have, largely, made good on their 2020 commitments to devote more ad spend to Black media. But the increase in investment has gone primarily to a handful of scaled publishers, according to interviews with eight Black media executives. As a result, while advertisers can credibly point to their increased investment in…

Using Attention Metrics, Publishers Aim to Prove Their Ads Work

Publishers have long struggled to prove the efficacy of their digital ad products to brand partners, but in the last year, media companies including Cond? Nast and Insider have begun experimenting with attention-based ad metrics to more clearly quantify their value, ultimately looking to drive more ad revenue. Using attention-based metrics–devised often by a mix…

Axios Local Slows Its Rapid Expansion After Missing Revenue Goals

The nationwide network of free, local newsletters from Axios, called Axios Local, has slowed its rapid expansion, citing the need to grow its existing readership and monetization capabilities before launching into new markets, according to a person familiar with the matter. After Axios Local launches in San Diego in July, its sixth new market of…

Pay to Play: Focus Turns to How Platform Verification Subscriptions Impact Reach

As the popularity of platforms like TikTok and Instagram grow, people are getting discovered faster and entering influencer status sooner. With Instagram parent Meta and Twitter both recently rolling out subscription products–where people can become verified overnight–there is no longer the need to build out online portfolios proving themselves as experts to support a claim…

With Help From Succession, New York Magazine Tops 1 Million Email Subscribers

Since retooling its newsletter strategy in 2019, the Vox Media title New York Magazine has seen its email readership–as Succession’s Kendall Roy might say–go supersonic. The publisher, which topped 1 million subscribers across its 30 email products in December, has achieved its growth through a multifaceted strategy: one that blends traditional newsletters with five subscriber-only…

British Consumer Champion Which? Enters a New Era of Building Trust

After more than 65 years, British not-for-profit organization Which? has come to describe itself as “the consumer champion.” The platform focuses on researching and reporting consumer issues, offering product tests, reviews and expert recommendations from a place of independence. With a monthly average of 9 million visitors a month to its site (based on the…

Vogue’s Met Gala Livestream Notched 53 Million Views in 24 Hours

On the first Monday in May, more than 53 million people across the globe tuned in to watch Vogue’s third livestream of the Met Gala, the annual fashion extravaganza that serves as both the primary source of funding for the museum’s Costume Institute and, increasingly, a tentpole event for Cond? Nast. Within the first 24…

Late Programmatic Payments Reach Post-Covid High Amid Liquidity Crunch

While the advertising downturn of the last year has had a highly visible impact on digital publishers, leading to layoffs, fire sales and closures, new data suggests that a similarly concerning economic crunch could be lurking beneath the surface of the ad-tech ecosystem. In the first quarter of this year, 53% of programmatic payments were…