What Worries Publishers Most?

By Digiday • March 19, 2013 •

Life as a publisher isn’t easy. Technology has changed the game, and publishers have been caught a half-step behind.

We asked several publishing executives attending the Digiday Publishing Summit what worries them most. The boogeymen: getting too far ahead of marketers; navigating the confusing tech landscape; and figuring out how to make money off mobile.

Janet Balis, publisher, The Huffington Post
You have to be careful because you can often innovate in advance of the marketplace. The key thing is to keep lockstep. It’s about not leading too far in advance of what the market is ready to buy from a business model standpoint.

Chris Lambiase, group publishing director, Rodale
My worry is the technology that’s behind our media now becomes bigger that what we’re really about, which is serving our reader and advertiser.

Kristine Welker, CRO, Hearst
All the noise in the system and all the distractions that keep us from what matters the most, which is what’s best experience for our consumers.

Mark Howard, svp of digital advertising strategy, Forbes
The divide between what we’re able to do on the desktop and the mobile phone is the No. 1 thing we spend our time thinking about. How does that value proposition that we offer at the desktop translate and how can we bring some of these similar type of opportunities to the phone experience.

John Shankman, publisher, The Awl
Reconciling the art and technology. I hear a lot of talk about programmatic ad buying and at the other side you have native and the brand as a publisher. How do you take those two different things and bring them together?

For their full responses, see the video below.