Skift gets 30 percent of its revenue from branded content

Skift hopes that Kremins’ experience in consumer media will help expand the site’s clients beyond its core travel brands to luxury and finance, helping further its branded-content business.

“Our big focus has been doing the right things instead of doing everything. We’re trying to go deeper into the things we know how to do and focus on those,” said Rafat Ali, Skift’s CEO, said.

Skift, which has raised $2.5 million since its start, pulled in revenue in the “ mid single millions” (meaning around 5 million) and made a profit for the first time this year, said Ali.

Much of that growth came from branded content, which makes up about 30 percent of Skift’s business. That’s come from a handful of big travel brands including American Express, Hilton, Club Med and Amadeus, which have used Skift to create microsites, videos and custom trend reports. Some projects have been larger than others. In July, it worked with Mastercard on “Future Cities,” a branded-content campaign that covered how big cities were updating their infrastructure for the future of travel.

But expanding branded content is a challenge with B2B companies, many of which are still learning about the format.

“When B2B marketers think content, they think of doing research with a big research company, instead of who is going to tell their story best,” Ali said. “Consumer brands understand that better. We’re trying to break through that on the B2B side.”