The Daily Beast Taps Mia Libby as Its Next CRO
Move reunites Libby with former Gawker Media and Gizmodo Media Group colleague Heather Dietrick
A replacement has been found for Bill McGarry and is being internally announced late this morning by The Daily Beast. CRO McGarry departed a few months ago for a position as vice president of sales with The Weather Channel.
Taking over the role of chief revenue officer sometime in October will be Mia Libby (pictured), formerly with Fusion/Gizmodo Media Group and Gawker Media. She will report to The Daily Beast president and CEO Heather Dietrick. From 2013 through June 2017, Dietrick served successively as general counsel, president of Gawker Media and president of Gizmodo Media Group.
“Mia is not only a top-notch leader of the sales team but a critical partner on the editorial side as well,” Dietrick tells Fishbowl. “She has a true reverence for the work that editorial does and has a unique ability to translate the passion she has for editorial to providing the most value to brands.”
Libby will be joining an enterprise buffeted by a most robust branded content arm operated by parent company IAC. Dietrick says revenue from that side has remained consistent with what it was in 2016.
“We have a sophisticated data team here at The Beast, coupled with access to a best-in-class data science group across IAC Publishing,” Dietrick explains. “We continue to get better and more creative in how we use data to tell brand stories. In terms of audience engagement, our branded content campaigns perform as well as our editorial content when we use the data science insights we have.”
The Daily Beast’s sales and brand strategy team currently accounts for about 10% of the company’s staff. Dietrick is looking to grow that by about 50%, with key areas for expansion beyond New York including, logically, Chicago and the entire California market (L.A., Bay Area). And of course, watching over it all, a most omniscient media industry maestro—Barry Diller.
“Barry believes, as we all do, in the power of The Beast’s distinctive voice and the opportunity before us,” says Dietrick. “The Daily Beast was one of the first digitally native publishers on the web, and over time, we’ve built not only an influential and loyal audience, but also a news brand with more than 30 percent aided awareness, purely on the strength and quality of our storytelling.”
“Mia will be solely focused on growing revenue for The Daily Beast. IAC companies in general operate autonomously and there are no forced synergies across the portfolio. The Daily Beast does collaborate with other premium brands in IAC’s Publishing segment in areas like data science, monetization and traffic acquisition.”
