How Condé Nast Grew Its Events Revenue 40% Last Year

The digital media company Condé Nast grew revenue from its events business by 40% in 2025, and the publisher is projecting another 22% growth in 2026, according to chief revenue officer Elizabeth Herbst-Brady. The dramatic uptick comes as the parent company of brands including Vogue, GQ, and The New Yorker leans into cultural tentpoles to offset pressure on its traditional advertising business. Overall revenue is up year over year, according to Herbst-Brady, although she declined to offer further financial specifics. "We started this journey last year, and we wanted to bring more focus to our events because they have become a differentiator for us, both as an experience and a moment where we can create content to exist across every canvas," said Herbst-Brady. The growth is concentrated in its marquee franchises. The Vanity Fair Oscars Party saw 65% year-over-year revenue growth, The New Yorker Festival posted 86% revenue growth, and Vogue World, now heading into its fifth edition in Milan, grew 48%, according to Herbst-Brady. On Tuesday, the company hosted a client event at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a gathering designed to immerse advertisers in the kind of cultural moment Condé Nast has rebuilt its commercial operation around. The strategy reflects a broader repositioning at Condé Nast as it contends with AI-driven traffic declines and the erosion of legacy ad models. FOR Scoops, Sharp Analysis, and Insider Context By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . You may opt-out anytime by clicking 'unsubscribe' from the newsletter or from your account. The company no longer expects advertising to be a growth engine, chief executive Roger Lynch said in October. Instead, it plans to lean on events, subscriptions, commerce, and licensing deals with AI players including OpenAI and Perplexity. In 2025, subscription revenue grew 10% and commerce was up 13%, with events sitting "in the center" of the business, according to Herbst-Brady. "As an advertiser, if you are interested in any of the Condé Nast touchpoints, you can participate in just one lane or in all of them," she said. Part of the playbook is cross-event packaging. Vanity Fair has historically hosted a glamorous event at the Cannes Film Festival, but has recently discussed adding an element tied to the Venice Film Festival. The events strategy also straddles the traditional divide between business-facing and consumer-facing events, with each brand determining for itself what kind of product best fits its audience. The New Yorker Festival, for instance, is accessible to anyone willing to buy a ticket, whereas more exclusive events, like the GQ Men of the Year party or Vogue World, are invitation-only, sponsored affairs. Likewise, Architectural Digest hosted its first event in March, a consumer brand that nonetheless convened designers around its L.A. Rising program, which aims to champion efforts related to rebuilding the community after the wildfires. This pro-sumer model enables consumer brands to tap into enterprise budgets, convening smaller groups of more influential people. The strategy comes in the face of Google Zero, the imminent drawdown of traffic caused by dramatic changes to the landscape of internet search. In May, Lynch told the technology show TBPN that has instructed its internal sales teams to plan as if search traffic will disappear in the near future. This shift, combined with the proliferation of artificially generated content, will work to the benefit of editorial brands with strong consumer recognition, according to Herbst-Brady. "Trusted brand authority is more important than ever, particularly with the rise of AI," she said. "Consumers trust the brands; they believe that we will fact-check and take time to put things credible into the ecosystem." As part of this reassessment, Condé Nast has taken to pruning its portfolio. It folded Teen Vogue into Vogue and Pitchfork in GQ, and sold or shuttered some of its smaller titles, including Self Magazine, Them, and some international editions of Wired and Glamour. Asked whether Condé would continue paring its portfolio after a run of folding and shuttering smaller titles, Herbst-Brady demurred. "We have no plans," she said. "It’s all about focus and building opportunity where we see the largest potential."

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How Condé Nast Grew Its Events Revenue 40% Last Year

The media company is projecting another 22% growth in 2026 as it leans into cultural tentpoles to hedge against AI and traffic declines

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Mark Stenberg

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