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Feminist publisher Jezebel, which reports on reproductive politics and celebrity culture with a biting humor, relaunched Monday after being acquired by independent publisher Paste Magazine last month.
Jezebel struggled to turn a profit under its former owner, G/O Media, in part because of brand safety concerns that throttled the open-exchange demand for its programmatic inventory.
To counter those challenges, the title will take a slightly different commercial tack as part of the Paste portfolio, placing more emphasis on video sponsorship, live events and film and entertainment advertisers, according to Paste cofounder and editor in chief Josh Jackson.
“We are having conversations with agencies and brands and figuring out what it is that they would like to see and what kind of partnerships we can create,” Jackson said.
To lead the relaunch, the publisher hired former interim editor in chief Lauren Tousignant as its new editor in chief, as well as former staffers Kylie Cheung and Audra Heinrichs, according to Jackson. It plans to fill at least two more roles—politics and entertainment editors—in the coming weeks.
“Jezebel will continue to be a platform that aims to highlight the experiences of women and marginalized communities, and I’ll be dedicated to bringing in as many new, familiar and disruptive voices as possible,” Tousignant said.
The revival of Jezebel and its stablemate, Splinter, highlight the discrepancy between reader enthusiasm for titles and their commercial futures, underscoring how significantly the media landscape has shifted in the past decade.
Breaking even on programmatic revenue
Paste generates nearly all of its revenue from digital advertising, bringing in roughly 25% of its business through private marketplace deals and brand sponsorships, and the remainder from open-exchange programmatic.
Jezebel, which reaches a larger audience than Paste, aims to achieve a similar split, although with a slightly higher percentage of direct advertising. Ideally, according to Jackson, it would break even on programmatic revenue alone.
To increase its direct revenue, Jezebel will reintroduce live events, following in the footsteps of Paste, which hosts showcases like its activation at South by Southwest. Jezebel will also produce more video.
Paste has more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers—and 300,000 daily newsletter subscribers—and sponsorship across both forms the bulk of its direct advertising business. The publisher has created bespoke campaigns with advertisers including Coca-Cola and Volkswagen. Jezebel aims to partner with Paste and emulate its strategy, according to Jackson.
