Elsewhere in this, the Digital Issue of Advertising Age, my colleague Michael Sebastian writes about digital publishing companies -- specifically, a half dozen upstarts in various stages of youth, including BuzzFeed (born 2006) and Vox (2011).It's an eye-opening report that looks beyond the hype surrounding these companies. Some of them are profitable (or at least claim to be), some aren't, but all of them have raised serious cash from starry-eyed investors (e.g., $96.3 million for BuzzFeed, $110 million for Vox). The business press tends to regard such hefty sums as implicit evidence of success and/or promise -- why would venture capitalists risk so much scratch if there was no there there? -- but Michael reminds us that all of these companies rely, somewhat harrowingly, on advertising for revenue.Which means these new-media challengers have, at their core, basically the same business model as the publishing incumbents. They're selling eyeballs to brands (though sometimes they put a different spin on it; e.g., they're actually selling "engagement"). Everyone is competing for the same digital dollars, and thus the same digital-advertising issues that dog legacy media companies (declining CPMs, the rise of programmatic, the challenge of monetizing mobile, etc.) apply to the new kids on the block, too. Continue reading at AdAge.com Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'
[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As it has become harder to censor individual journalists and independent teams, the intimidation, violence and imprisonment has increasedIn a rather dark hotel meeting room, halfway up a Swiss mountain, editors and publishers are having a heated debate about the freedom of the press. This is the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Read Media Monkey’s diary from the Monday print pages• To the Paddy Power Political Book awards 2015 at London’s Imax cinema, where the winners included Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson, Andrew Marr revealed his next book (presumably another novel because his first one was, er, so remarkable)... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An increase in Prime membership subscriptions helped Amazon to a fourth quarter profit. The e-commerce giant has been under pressure from investors to return a good result after reporting a loss for the previous two quarters of its financial year, but shares recovered yesterday (29th January)... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple has recorded a quarterly net profit of £18bn for its first fiscal quarter, said to be the biggest ever for a public company. The company’s results, for the quarter ending 27th December 2014, also showed quarterly revenue of £74.6bn, up 29% from $57.6bn in the same period the year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Complex Media, a network of lifestyle and culture websites for young men, has acquired Collider.com, a news and information site that covers movies, television and video games.Founded by Steve "Frosty" Weintraub, Collider reports on the entertainment industry with an emphasis on fanboy culture,... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This week on the Digiday Podcast we give the digital media world a reality check. The post Digiday Podcast Ep 2. Make or break time for VC-backed publishers appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Atlantic Media's business news site Quartz may draw the bulk of the headlines, but the company is trying a similar digital-first strategy with the niche but lucrative world of national defense trade publishing. The post Atlantic Media takes a page from Quartz with Defense One appeared first on... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and BC Partners have reached an agreement to merge Springer Science+Business Media (owned by funds advised by BCP) with the majority of Holtzbrinck-owned Macmillan Science and Education, namely Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan and the global businesses of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ad fraud has been going on for decades. However, the sophistication of today’s ad fraud is something that puts sticky fingered program managers of yore to shame. The post Ad fraud: The oldest trick in the media book appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Carol Evans is leaving Working Mother Media after helping to lead the company for more than 35 years. Evans grew WMM from a single magazine—Working Mother, launched in 1978—into a magazine, website, events producer and research institute, along with two companion associations. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2015-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Atlantic Media introduced business-news publication Quartz in September 2012, it spent about $10 million on the launch, according to people familiar with the matter. That's a far cry from the more than $100 million Cond Nast dropped in 2007 rolling out its glossy business magazine,... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The End of Power' – a respected, though modestly-selling, nonfiction book – has now been launched to a global audience thanks to Mark Zuckerberg. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a deal that combines two of the largest independent companies in the spokenword audiobook industry, Recorded Books has acquired Tantor Media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When PW did a review at the end of 2013 on how more than 30 industry startups had performed over the last few years, we found that while several had “pivoted” and one had been sold, for the most part companies were still in business and hopeful that sustainable growth was just around the corner. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Find your lost pet with the help of facial recognition. Your home security system gets smarter. Search for a home cleaner and instantly book an appointment. Meet 2014's newest tech ideas in our collection of stories from The Pitch, a weekly feature in the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More top publishers are opting into programmatic ad networks to sell premium advertising. Varick Media Management recently signed exclusive deals with Time Inc., News Corp., American Media Inc. and Wenner Media and will help them sell ad units that feature photography, videos and other types of... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Everyone is doing exactly what these criminals want,’ says Rogen, after newspapers publish emails hacked from Sony executivesAaron Sorkin: news outlets more ‘morally treasonous’ than Sony hackersVarious Hollywood figures, including Brad Pitt, Aaron Sorkin and Seth Rogen, have publicly... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Midwest Tape has appointed Tammy Faxel publisher of its audiobook and video division, Dreamscape Media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital publishing needs a lifeline. But as The New Republic debacle has showed, mixing tech and media cultures is a tricky combination. The post Why Silicon Valley and media don’t mix easily appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thanks to digital, news publishers thought they could build a direct relationship with their customers. Recent deals signal the opposite. Two recent deals between media and technology companies struck me as a new trend in the distributio ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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