Talking Heds
i-D CEO PSA (EXCLUSIVE): The trendsetting fashion and culture publisher i-D will name chief commercial officer Michiel Steur as its first chief executive officer on Thursday, ADWEEK can exclusively report. The editorial brand, which first launched in 1980 and was sold, in 2023, by Vice Media to Karlie Kloss’ media imprint Bedford Media, aims to enter a new era under the stewardship of the former supermodel and her venture capitalist husband Josh Kushner. The full story is coming Thursday, but I included an excerpt from my conversation with Steur below.
Front Office Apps (EXCLUSIVE): The business of sports media outlet Front Office Sports launched its first mobile app on Tuesday, ADWEEK exclusively reported. The new product not only unlocks a new swath of advertising inventory for the outlet—it also marks its full transformation from a newsletter-based publisher into a multichannel platform. FOS, which is also launching its first linear television program in September, now encompasses newsletters, streaming video, a mobile app, events, and, of course, its website. The only thing missing is a consumer subscription product, which I have to imagine is coming shortly.
Expanding ReachTV (EXCLUSIVE): The airport entertainment brand, whose newly appointed CEO Rachel Jacobson I spoke with in July, has named several new executives to its leadership team as it plots its expansion. On Thursday, the company will reveal that it has brought aboard Jodi Porter as its chief revenue officer, who joins from TikTok, as well as head of production Larry Berger, who joins from USA Today Inc. ReachTV is a prime example of a budding hypothesis of mine, which is that as in-person experiences continue to rise in value, the advertising that caters to those experiences—think movie theaters, out-of-home displays, airports, and other third-spaces—will see a related increase in value.
News Works: In the ongoing effort to persuade brands to advertise alongside news content, the most convincing argument is not a call to civic duty but a return on investment. A new study from DoubleVerify seeks to speak their language. In an analysis of campaign performance across dozens of news websites, including The AP, Guardian, and The Telegraph, advertising on these sites resulted in 18% lower cost per 1,000 impressions; 38% lower cost per click; and 21% lower cost for viewable impressions.
Creator Cracks: In my cover story on creators becoming media companies, I cautioned that evolving from creator into mogul can be rife with growing pains. In two recent investigations, Bloomberg Media’s Ashley Carman has detailed exactly what these challenges look like. Earlier this month, Carman scooped that Call Her Daddy founder Alex Cooper was shutting down her beverage company, just days after announcing a capital raise valuing the company at $500 million. And on Wednesday, Carman detailed the implosion at Audiochuck, the hit true crime podcast company founded by Ashley Flowers, which has seen an exodus of executive leadership amid claims of burnout and mismanagement. No matter how you go about it, scaling creative endeavors built around individual talent is always going to require a minor miracle.
Quote/Unquote
Michiel Steur is the new chief executive officer of i-D, the trendsetting fashion and culture brand founded in 1980. Steur, who is currently the chief commercial officer of the publisher, will officially assume the new role on Oct. 1, becoming its first CEO.
