Tuesday 22nd February: When an iconic media brand outlives its value

February 22, 2022

Good morning! This newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

IDG was one of the first publishing companies that I wanted to work for. Along with CMP and Ziff Davis, it dominated the technology publishing world that I started out in and I wanted a move to the big leagues. The news that the business has re-branded as Foundry signals one more publishing industry ambition I'll never achieve.

Just as well really... where an editor and journalist would sit on Foundry's organogram, I have no idea. In the past 18 months, the company has acquired four data and technology firms with success predicated on the 'ability to connect its own first-party data with martech'.

The IDG name that I once looked to as an exemplar of B2B excellence, had become a millstone according to Foundry President Kumaran Ramanathan: "It ultimately limits our ambition and ability to be identified as a marketing-technology powerhouse.’’ Call me sentimental, but I thinks it's a little sad that one of the companies that fueled the tech-revolution eventually got swallowed up by it.

When we were talking about reporting on the crypto markets a couple of weeks ago, we acknowledged that it wasn't easy. The latest guest on Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting podcast is Jason Yanowitz, co-founder of Blockworks, a crypto-focused media company that expects to top $20 million in its fifth year. It might not be easy, but there's cash there.

It's maybe a bit late in the year for 2022 predictions. But DCN lead Jason Kint is always worth listening to, so we'll forgive his lateness, especially given his apparent optimism that change is on the horizon. His hopes for the future involve the alignment of those charged with regulating unscrupulous data collection, and consumers and advertisers seeking out the trusted brands of the future.

The Drum is reporting that digital advertisers are facing an epidemic of fraud. A new survey predicts global losses to unscrupulous traders will reach $68 billion this year – up from $59 billion last year. Juniper Research estimates that 60% of global fraud can be accounted for by five markets, with the US, Japan, China, South Korea and the UK named as the worst fraud ‘hotspots.’

This week's podcast:

This week we hear from Abbianca Makoni, a 22-year old journalist who, after completing a four-year apprenticeship at the the Evening Standard, decided to go it alone with own online publication Awallprintss, which shares the voices and stories of under-reported communities around the world.

"So much nicer that the stuffing penguin-suits-round-a-table boredom-fests that normally afflict us," wrote one attendee of 2020's event. Come and join us for a definitely not-boring evening celebrating the best in publisher podcasting.