G/O Media plans to follow Quartz playbook

G/O Media, which recently acquired business news site Quartz, plans to shift its operating model to be more like its recent acquisition, reports Mark Stenberg of Adweek.

Stenberg reports, “But Quartz staff shouldn’t be concerned about the dilution of their company culture or mission, Spanfeller said. If anything, rather than transform Quartz to resemble a traditional G/O Media property, the company aims to evolve its current portfolio to more closely resemble Quartz.

“Since launching G/O Media, Great Hill Ventures has sought to professionalize the blogging that once defined its titles, including the former Gawker Media sites Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezebel. Quartz, with its signature style and high-level analysis, represents the direction in which G/O Media aims to grow, according to Spanfeller.

“In that vein, the company has no plans to significantly change the Quartz website, outside of potentially diminishing the promotion of its Daily Brief newsletter. But, given the ad-load common to G/O Media properties and the ultimate goal of the acquisition, the business publisher will likely see an uptick in programmatic ad placements, Shah said.

“The media company also hopes to use the premium audience of business professionals that Quartz attracts to lure blue-chip advertisers to the G/O Media portfolio. There, titles like tech-centric Gizmodo and auto-focused Jalopnik could provide them with incremental reach.”

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