Digital revenues pass print at Forbes

OPA Intelligence Report — 10/21/2013
By Mark Glaser

For the first time, Forbes Media is bringing in more ad money from digital than from print. The big driver? Native advertising. Forbes says its 3-year-old native ad shop – BrandVoice – now contributes 20 percent of the company’s total ad revenue and it expects that number to increase to 30 percent next year. As MediaPost’s Erik Sass reports, BrandVoice has already attracted some 30 big-name marketers, including NetApp, SAP, Xerox and Cartier. And Forbes expects to launch a dozen more by the end of the year. In the press release about the numbers, the company pointed to two big things that are proving to be crucial in native advertising success: metrics and labeling. On the metrics front, Digiday’s Josh Sternberg put it this way, “The problem with native ads is figuring out what metrics constitute success. Publishers are trying to get out in front on this, providing reports to advertisers that are in the language of publishing.”

For its part, Forbes was quick to highlight metrics for NetApp’s BrandVoice campaign – which it says brought in 2.4 million page views from 1.7 million unique visitors. And, according to Sternberg’s reporting, the company is starting to give advertisers two new dashboards: one that gives clients a look at publisher data and another that gives social data. “I think the publisher stats are the first point of departure for these marketers on how it’s all working for them ... these elements that are important to a publisher are important to a brand,” Forbes honcho Mike Perlis tells Sternberg. Perlis was also sure in the press release to emphasize labeling, saying, “Brands are embracing thought leadership marketing as a way to attract and engage directly with their target audiences via compelling, informative and clearly labeled content.” After all, as Adweek’s David Taintor points out, “In theory, sponsored content is as compelling as the articles it lives among. But the risk, of course, is that readers will click on an interesting headline and recoil after realizing the content amounts to advertising in an editorial wrapping.”


Forbes Estimates BrandVoice Will Generate 20 Percent of Total Ad Revenue This Year (Adweek)
Brands, Do You Know If Your Native Ads Are Working? (Digiday)
Buys That Include Sponsored Content Now 20% of Ad Revenue at Forbes (AdAge)
BrandVoice Contributes 20% Of ‘Forbes’ Ad Revenues (MediaPost)
Forbes Media Achieves Unprecedented Digital Growth Through BrandVoice (Forbes Press Release)