Short Takes: FM Buys Lijit, Rethinks Network Model

When Federated Media Publishing launched back in 2006, it was a pretty straightforward proposition. Founder and former Wired and Industry Standard publisher John Battelle saw an opportunity with the rise of independent Web content creators to represent them in an outsourced publishing function — and act as a filter for advertisers to find indie voices with real audiences.

FM still does that, but its purchase of Lijit yesterday confirms that the network model is undergoing changes. FM still hangs its hat on “conversational” marketing programs that require heavy lifting by a sales team. But Lijit provides FM with a monetization technology used by many medium-sized and small sites. FM plans to dip its toes into real-time bidding by using Lijit to let advertisers buy on its indie sites in an efficient manner.

It’s a smart move to realize that media buying is changing. Just repping small sites with a sales force isn’t a great business. After all, just note that FM’s alumni list — sites that ended up moving on from using its services — includes TechCrunch and Mashable.

https://digiday.com/?p=2436

More in Media

AI Briefing: How political startups are helping small political campaigns scale content and ads with AI

With about 100 days until Election Day, politically focused startups see AI as a way to help national and local candidates quickly react to unexpected change. 

Media Briefing: Publishers reassess Privacy Sandbox plans following Google’s cookie deprecation reversal  

Google’s announcement on Monday to reverse its plans to fully deprecate third-party cookies from its Chrome browser seems to have, in turn, reversed some publishers’ stances on the Privacy Sandbox. 

Why Google’s cookie deprecation reversal isn’t actually a reprieve for publishers

Publishers are keeping a “business as usual” approach to testing cookieless alternatives despite Google’s announcement that it won’t be fully deprecating third-party cookies after all.