Zenith Merges Print, Digital Divisions
Zenith Media’s move to formally merge its print and digital divisions could ratchet up the pressure for print publishers to follow a similar path—one that some have been slower to do, despite the increasing digitization of media.
“For us to go to our client with a holistic solution, we want to go to partners who can bring packages to life for us,” said John Nitti, svp, managing director of digital, who is leading the new unit.
Under the new model, Steve Bloom, svp, president, and director of magazines, now reports to Nitti.
Bloom also said that as Zenith approaches publishers with a single point of contact, the expectation is that publishers will be able to follow suit.
“We’ll have more fluidity in the beginning,” he said. “But I expect all our partners to practice in the way we’ll be working with them. There are very few programs where magazines are the only part of the program.”
Zenith officially announced the merger Monday following months of cross-training its employees. It seems natural that the model would be applied to other buying units, but Nitti, while endorsing the idea, stopped short of sharing specifics.
“It would only make sense to look at video as video,” he said. “We should organize ourselves around that idea.”
Diane Newman, evp, group publishing director for American Media Inc., parent of Shape and The National Enquirer and others, said she was glad to see Zenith move towards integrated buying. “Our team has been selling integrated packages [since early 2010],” she said. “What is frustrating is that agencies are not always set up to buy that way.”
Newman also hoped that integrated buying would help shift the focus of negotiations away from discounts as publishers are able to present multiplatform packages that can command premium prices.
“I think in many cases [agencies] were looking at it from a media procurement perspective,” she said. “You lose the idea of smart marketing. If our business doesn’t get back to that and keeps focusing on pricing, we’re going to be our own worst enemies.”
Nitti said that Zenith’s new approach could lead to premiums, but at the same time, publishers would need to help validate such higher pricing.
“No one’s disputing the power of print,” he said. “There’s just no standardization in how you get to that premium.”
Nitti also saw the merger as the first step towards eventually creating a single CPM that would encompass print and its various digital iterations, including mobile, Web and iPad.
“It’s to help clients get [to] customer-centric marketing,” he said. “They’re perplexed by the model of paying different ways for different types of content.
“Changing the pricing model is not an easy thing,” he added. “But it’s on my road map.”
