Understanding the Quartz business model

Frederic Filloux of MondayNote.com writes about Quartz, the Atlantic’s business news site, and how its business model can work.

Filloux writes, “Most of the time, the content is made or adapted especially for Quartz with a variable involvement of its advertising division (the branded content operations are kept segregated from the editorial department.) Quartz staff involvement goes from collaborating on the ad content to setting up HTML5 integration. On purpose, Quartz maintains a staff of copywriters and graphic designers assigned to assist brands in their communication. While ad spaces are clearly identified, their content is never completely dissociated from surrounding articles. Quite often, it reflects the newsroom’s ‘Obsessions’. Such precautions, plus the Quartz layout, warrant good click-rates and high prices. Quartz people are discreet about the KPIs, but sources in the ad community said that CPMs for its native ads content could be roughly ten times higher than traditional display ads.

“Atlantic Media’s weight and bargaining power helped jumpstart the ad pump. A year ago, the site started with four brands: Chevron, Boeing, Credit Suisse and Cadillac. Today, Quartz has more twenty advertisers from the same league. Unlike other multi-page websites, its one-scroll structure not only proposes a single format, but also re-creates scarcity. (Plus the fact that Quartz does not have any mobile apps greatly simplifies the commercial process.) Still, it can be a double-edged sword: scarcity could indeed translate into high prices, but it also limits the number of available slots, therefore capping the revenue stream. Quartz’s publisher and head of sales made a tough choice — high rates vs. high volume — and so far it seems to work fine as the site is close to break-even ahead of schedule.”

Read more here.