Categories: OLD Media Moves

Levien is Forbes’ champion of innovation

Josh Sternberg of Digiday.com profiles Forbes chief revenue office Meredith Levien. Beginning of 2012, when Levien was named the chief revenue officer, the company has seen six consecutive quarters of growth, and last year was its best financial performance in half a decade.

Sternberg writes, “Levien has been a vocal proponent of programmatic buying, the process of executing media buys through automation rather than person-to-person sales. Today, programmatic buying accounts for 20 percent of Forbes’ ad revenue. Digital ad revenue, which is up 19 percent year-over-year, accounted for half of the company’s total ad revenue in 2012.

“‘Meredith sees her role as being a champion for being innovative,’ Perlis said. ‘We all understand programmatic is going to play a bigger role in our lives moving forward. She’s of the ilk where she would rather open a door and power that revenue instead of being resistent.’

“The other area that’s generating quite a bit of ad revenue for Forbes is Brandvoice, its somewhat controversial sponsored-content engine. Led by Lewis D’vorkin, Brandvoice is another tool for Levien and her sales team to use to get brands on board. The blogging platform is Forbes’ approach to ‘native’ advertising, and it allows brands to create their own content under the Forbes logo. This has caused a stir, with opponents arguing it blurs the line between editorial and advertising. But for Forbes, money talks: It commands between $50,000 and $75,000 a month (for a minimum of three months).

“Levien builds these plans from within her spacious office on the sixth floor of the Forbes Building at 60 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Family photos of her parents, husband (Jason Levien, CEO of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies) and 2-year-old boy adorn her walls and sit atop her radiator. Her office is Forbes’ Grand Central Station, a hub of foot traffic where teams from edititorial, sales and advertising file in and out. In front of her desk are two chairs; behind them, a couch invites clients to sit and discuss current and future plans.”