Biz news site Quartz is model for modern publishing

Josh Sternberg of Digiday writes about The Atlantic’s business news site Quartz and how it has been a model for success.

Sternberg writes, “On the traffic front, Quartz is growing, reporting 2.3 million monthly uniques last month. Comscore puts it at a more down-to-Earth 882,000 desktop and 333,000 on mobile, which is a shade under The Financial Times (1.2 million) and The Economist (2.3 million). Not too bad for the new kid on the block.

“Quartz was billed as a mobile-first destination, and as such, it eschewed creating a homepage. Instead, it focuses on the article page, and the internal traffic numbers point to how Quartz content is being read and shared. Lauf said that 31 percent of Quartz’s traffic comes from direct, and more than 50 percent comes from social. Mobile, he said, fluctuates between 25 and 31 percent.

“‘The punchline is this shows how the rapid transition of consumers to smartphones and tablets, and creates a window of opportunity for new publisher entrants to grab share,’ Kunz said. ‘If I were a digital publisher, I’d think it’s game on.'”

Read more here.