On the back end of 2015, the media and publishing industry is buzzing with activity
There aren’t many industries as exciting these days as media and publishing, which rivals even the tech sector for growth opportunity.
Each week brings with it a new advancement, revenue stream, and shakeup. For every failure, there are that many more successes – or at least startups to take their place. The revolving door has never swung around faster or more frequently. As brands strive to become publishers and social media platforms strive to become everything to everyone, content is not only king, it’s ascending to emperor of the galaxy. The industry news can be hard to keep up with!
Luckily, we have sites like MediaPost to make sense of it all. Let’s take a look at some of their recent coverage on hiring trends, Facebook’s appeal for at least one legacy publisher, and the latest mergers & acquisitions.
Branded Content Specialists a Hot Hire in Media and Publishing
Media and publishing companies are placing an emphasis on branded content experts, MediaPost reports, as many aim to bring native advertising efforts in-house.
Recent hires include Mike Beck and Ian Orefice being promoted to senior executive producers for Time Inc. digital video.
Meanwhile, Truffle Pig, the content marketing collaborative among Daily Mail, Snapchat, and WPP, tapped Paul Marcum as president.
And Condé Nast has hired Will Misselbrook, Eden Gorcey, Josh Stinchcomb, and Dirk Standen for their entertainment and content studio efforts with 23 Stories.
Facebook Instant Articles Is Emerging as an Exclusive Distribution Tool
Where do you stand on Facebook Instant Articles? Some publishers have rejected it out of principle, while others have embraced it.
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“While other publications are gingerly testing the waters of social media distribution, The Washington Post is doing a cannonball into the pool through its partnership with Facebook’s Instant Articles: this week WaPo announced that it is sending all of its stories to Facebook for formatting as Instant Articles, in essence making the publication’s entire output available for perusal via Facebook’s iOS app. … WaPo content available on Instant Articles includes videos and photo galleries as well as text, all formatted to appear native to Facebook. The WaPo Instant Articles offering is launching with Qualcomm as its first advertiser,” Erik Sass writes.
“In a blog post, WaPo publisher Fred Ryan explained the move to open up WaPo’s full range of content: ‘We want to reach current and future readers on all platforms, and we aren’t holding anything back. Launching Instant Articles on Facebook enables to give this extremely large audience a faster, more seamless news reading experience.’ … WaPo joins a select group of publishers already distributing content via Instant Articles, including Hearst, Gannett, Time Inc., The Daily Mail, Elite Daily, Vox Media, CBS Interactive, Refinery 29, Mashable, and The Huffington Post, among others.”
Mergers & Acquisitions, Both Actual and Rumored
As of this writing, Axel Springer is considering buying Business Insider, which would make for a massive deal. By the time you read this, it might have been done. Elsewhere, Hearst has invested $21 million in male-Millennial-geared Complex Media, mostly for video ambitions. And, in an effort to boost their ecommerce content strategy, Purch has acquired Active Junky, and The Huffington Post has bought Bringhub.
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One reply on “Media and Publishing Updates: Branded Content, Facebook, and Big Moves”
“For every failure, there are that many more successes – or at least startups to take their place.”
— This sounds like the ‘flavor of the month’ club. Instead, find a problem and offer a solution — that’s the true road to success.