Rather than selling pre- and mid-roll advertising, Semafor monetizes its video through long-term sponsor integrations, according to Oppenheim. Google has been embedded in Mixed Signals since its launch, while PwC sponsors CEO Signal across its video, digital, and events expressions.
The strategy mirrors the exclusivity of its editorial products. Its CEO Signal newsletter, for example, is restricted to chief executives of companies with more than $500 million in revenue. Its video offerings, while available publicly on platforms including YouTube, will cater to a similar group of decision-makers by dent of their subject matter.
“Every media company puts resources behind audience development,” Oppenheim said. “For CEO Signal, we are doing audience defense.”
Extending events with video
The video expansion builds on the events business that generates more than half of Semafor’s revenue.
In April, its World Economy Summit drew more than 500 CEOs, making it the largest such convening in the U.S. Next year, the company is targeting 1,000 chief executives, a gathering that would rival the World Economic Forum in Davos.
These events are already captured on video, which is distributed across its editorial platforms, but the two formats will be more integrated going forward. Future gatherings will have dedicated studios embedded within them, for example, allowing the team to cut podcasts on-site.
The logic of the investment is sound, according to Gabriel Dorosz, an executive at the International News Media Association and founder of the consultancy Mighty Blackbird. Eroding revenue from display advertising and the collapse of the traffic-driven publishing model are pushing every publisher toward video.
“I’m not sure any publisher can be in the scale business anymore,” Dorosz said. “Semafor is not about how many, it’s about who.”
Succeeding in video requires publishers to align editorial, product, brand, marketing, and advertising, a difficult feat for historically siloed organizations, Dorosz said. That is why he considers Banicki’s dual mandate the shrewdest element of the announcement.
“The fact that they are giving Banicki ownership of the editorial and commercial strategy is the smartest part of this,” Dorosz said. “If you are free from the banner ad, what could you be free to do that you could not do before?”
