Chris Sutcliffe of The Media Briefing writes about Forbes’ digital strategy.
Sutcliffe writes, “Forbes Media was also one of the first media organisations to experiment with native advertising – so early into the game, in fact, that Perlis believes ‘native advertising’ didn’t exist as a term.
“Its product, Brandvoice, has to date seen over 8 thousand posts by sponsors, and total pageviews of over 63 million. Perlis explains how the Forbes audience, who are savvy enough to recognise ad pitches when they see them, are essentially rewarding content that adds something to their experiences:
‘Working with a completely separate team – not the editorial department, but a business department organisation – we give advertisers, marketers, the opportunity to also find a voice on Forbes.
‘Advertisers, marketers, have a lot of expertise and companies like SAP and IBM and AT&T have all been Brandvoice marketers. Not unlike the contributors who contribute editorially for us, very often this content is really appreciated by the audience.’
“As a result of Forbes’ early entry into the contributor and native spaces, Perlis says the brand now sees 70 percent of its advertising revenue coming from its digital properties – though he notes that ‘disruption is the order of the day’ online.”
