Independent and Profitable, Digital Trends Aims to Redefine Tech Media

Asked whether, back in 2006, he could have possibly envisioned that the tech review blog he co-founded, using rented office space above an Oregon furniture store, would one day grow into a profitable digital media enterprise spanning three offices on two coasts and attracting talent from the likes of Facebook and The New York Times Co., CEO Ian Bell responds first by laughing out loud. "Never." Fourteen years later, Digital Trends has done exactly that, drawing more than 30 million unique visitors to its site each month—an audience that balloons to more than 100 million when accounting for distributed content, video and social media—all without taking on outside funding or compromising on its core mantra, "Tech for the way you live," laid out from the beginning by Bell and his co-founder, CTO Dan Gaul, and permeating every aspect of the company's strategy from business to editorial. "We’ve always had a passion for the aesthetics of products and what they could actually help you achieve: connect you to other people, save time in your day, enhance your experiences in general," says Bell. "Everyone else was focused on specifications, stats, benchmarks, but they never really applied those to a better life experience. Hardware and specifications mean nothing if you aren’t able to enjoy a better experience." If the driving force behind the Digital Trends' evolution from blog to website to cross-platform operation is, as all of the staffers we spoke to asserted, strong,... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-31 17:01:10 UTC ]

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The 2019 Publishing Hot List: The Print and Digital Media Brands Paving a Way to Profitability

Media is dying? Don't tell that to the winners of this year's Publishing Hot List. Whether legacy media outlets or digital upstarts, these publishers are creating groundbreaking work, finding new revenue streams and otherwise nimbly adapting to an unstable landscape. Even as the president... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2019-10-21 00:00:55 UTC ]
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Media experts on the future of publishing: Hear from Condé Nast, Essence, NYT, Vox, WSJ and more

For publishers, this is a time of radical reinvention marked by a breakneck pace of innovation. To make sense of the changing landscape for both digital-native and traditional publishers, Ad Age is convening a high-level gathering of some of the best minds in the business. At Ad Age Publishing:... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-18 16:17:19 UTC ]
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‘We realized we could pull it off’: 2 years in, Bayer is on track to take all digital media buying in-house by 2020

Bayer is on its second year of in-housing programmatic. At Digiday's Media Buyer Summit this week, the company shared how it set up its team. The post ‘We realized we could pull it off’: 2 years in, Bayer is on track to take all digital media buying in-house by 2020 appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-10-18 04:01:51 UTC ]
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FUSE Media 2019 Speakers from Hearst, Annex Business Media, Industry Dive, Farm Journal & More

FUSE Media Summit is coming up next month, and we're preparing to delve into the most pressing topics for digital media executives today. From productization and marketing automation to data privacy and the consumer experience, there’s a lot to discuss over just 2 1/2 days. Here's a look at the... Continue reading at Publishing Executive

[ Publishing Executive | 2019-10-17 18:06:42 UTC ]
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The state of brand suitability

According to new State of the Industry research from Integral Ad Science and Digiday, brand suitability — a term describing a marketer’s desired targeting parameters, including subjective variables like location and demographics — is emerging as a top concern for digital media pros. The post... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-10-17 02:26:20 UTC ]
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How Digital Media Could Help Decide the 2020 Election Winner

Digital media is poised for a major role in the 2020 election season. While we all know that elections are decided based on numerous factors, no one can deny that messages conveyed to would-be voters via media (whether it's paid, earned or owned) plays a major role in swaying the minds of the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2019-10-16 15:10:26 UTC ]
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This week's agency moves, hires, and partnerships: October 14, 2019

Serviceplan Group Middle East hired Akhilesh Bagri as executive creative director. Previously, he held positions at BBDO, JWT, Leo Burnett and FP7 on brands including HSBC, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Emirates Airlines, HSBC, Sony, PepsiCo, Nestle and Mars. Gabriel Guedelha joins The Via Agency as... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-14 19:04:03 UTC ]
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Media Mergers Aren’t New. So Why Are Publishers Consolidating Now?

Perhaps it was promising, years ago, to see the media industry booming thanks to investments by venture capital-backed funders and large media conglomerates hoping to cash in early on promising new digital media titles. But now, it's the time in the industry's life cycle for those same flashy... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2019-10-14 15:22:42 UTC ]
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Digital media companies consolidating should boost their forays into Hollywood

The recent media mergers could help the combined companies to secure more production deals with streaming services. The post Digital media companies consolidating should boost their forays into Hollywood appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-10-09 04:01:45 UTC ]
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‘It can be demotivating’: Digital media’s all-stock deals are the new normal

With banks more reluctant to lend, venture capitalists aren't interested in buying digital media companies that aren't growing quickly. The post ‘It can be demotivating’: Digital media’s all-stock deals are the new normal appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-10-09 04:01:17 UTC ]
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Media Mergers Highlight Arbitrary Private Valuations

A slew of digital media acquisitions over the past few weeks shows how unreliable private valuations can be. The only Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-10-08 16:38:01 UTC ]
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NBA is in a no-win situation as protest tweet sparks China furor

The NBA finds itself caught between two cultures, after a tweet about Hong Kong protests sparked criticism from China that threatens the U.S. basketball league’s expansion efforts in its most important international market. The controversy erupted after Daryl Morey, general manager of the... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-07 16:50:17 UTC ]
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TikTok users are surprised to find themselves in ads for the app

Elijah Jay is wants nternet stardom, almost anywhere he can get it, just not as a TikTok salesman. But that’s exactly what he became when the social media company used one of his videos in an ad that ran on Snapchat. Jay's video, in which he performs a balloon-swallowing stunt, has been seen by... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-07 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Bleacher Report now has three hit animation series

Sports coverage is such a saturated area that digital media publishers like Bleacher Report must constantly hunt new ways to drive new audiences, while sustaining existing ones. Making the series a parody has gone down well with fans, and helped it differentiate. The post Bleacher Report now... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-10-04 04:00:27 UTC ]
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Upheaval at Sports Illustrated, Mergers in Digital Media | News & Notes

A staff uprising at Sports Illustrated... Following Tuesday's New York Post report that editor-in-chief Chris Stone is exiting Sports Illustrated after 27 years with the magazine, The Wall Street Journal added late Wednesday evening that the brand's new operator, TheMaven Inc., is planning to... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2019-10-03 20:41:59 UTC ]
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What recession? Holiday sales expected to rise amid boost in ad spend

Shoppers appear unfazed by a potential recession, tariff uncertainty and an impeachment inquiry in Washington. The National Retail Federation, which released its annual holiday sales forecast Thursday, says retail sales will increase between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent during the last two months... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-03 19:49:51 UTC ]
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ANA’s annual meeting begins with major focus on multicultural marketing

For the past several years, Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice has kicked off the group’s largest conference of the year by ticking off a laundry list of issues plaguing the industry, including the opaque digital media supply chain, ad fraud and the ANA’s long-running fight with... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-03 15:40:12 UTC ]
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Vice Media to acquire Refinery29 in drive for female audiences

Vice Media Inc., the youth-oriented media company, agreed to acquire the online publisher Refinery29, seeking to reignite growth by reaching a young female audience. The deal marks the biggest move yet by Vice Chief Executive Officer Nancy Dubuc, who has been trying to revive the once... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-02 19:51:02 UTC ]
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MediaMath launches new platform to 'clean up' digital media supply chain

Partners on the initiative include the Rubicon Project, Telaria, Acoustic, Akamai, Business Insider, Crackle Plus, Havas Media, IBM Watson, Inscape/Vizio, IRIS.TV, News Corp, Octopus Interactive, Oracle Data Cloud, Publishers Clearing House and White Ops. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-10-02 16:44:44 UTC ]
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ANA’s annual conference starts. And Nike confronts a doping scandal: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our daily newsletter. You can also get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device. Meditations... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-02 10:00:00 UTC ]
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