How Forbes digital revenue grew

Mumbrella Asia’s editor Robin Hicks spoke with Forbes chief revenue officer Mark Howard about its strategy.

Here is an excerpt:

Mark, 70 per cent of Forbes’ ad revenue now comes from digital. Can you explain how that shift has come about?
We launched the first Forbes website in 1996. We ran the print and digital business separately. We had to focus resources from a sales and marketing perspective just on digital, as that business had the opportunity to grow.
In 2009, when the recession hit, we integrated the two businesses. Until today, we’ve been very aggressive and have seen fast growth from the digital side. In 2013, digital and print became the same in terms of revenue.
How is print revenue faring?
Print ad revenue has remained constant for the last several years.

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.