The timing of Semafor\u2019s launch three months ago has coincided with an economic slowdown, presenting a challenge to the news publisher\u2019s direct-sold ad business<\/a> \u201cunless they continue to come up with innovative ways to partner with advertisers and brands,\u201d said Alex Stone, svp of advanced video and agency partnerships at media agency Horizon Media.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisers are \u201cwatching every media dollar being spent\u201d and focused on \u201ctried and true\u201d relationships, Stone said. But launch sponsors like Verizon are carrying Semafor through a gloomy ad market.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLaunch partnerships have represented wind in our sails,\u201d said Semafor CRO Rachel Oppenheim. \u201cThe first quarter hasn\u2019t been a heart-sinking experience, just because we did a lot of work across the spring, summer and fall to design these longer-term relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n It was always Semafor\u2019s intention to try and sponsor its \u201cOne Good Text\u201d franchise, Oppenheim said. \u201cOne Good Text\u201d has interviewed Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and ministers from countries like Kenya and Latvia, among others.<\/p>\n The texts in the sponsored, expanded version will not be edited and will appear on Semafor\u2019s website and newsletters. Verizon\u2019s sponsorship of the franchise will run for six months and includes the brand\u2019s logo above the interviews. Oppenheim declined to share how much Verizon has paid Semafor for these sponsorships.<\/p>\n The first installment of the new weekly Q&A series \u2014 now called \u201c10 Minute Texts\u201d \u2014 went live Tuesday afternoon, and features Semafor\u2019s editor-in-chief Ben Smith interviewing Peter McGuinness, the CEO of Impossible Foods.<\/p>\n The series \u201cprovides a window into folks\u2019 personality and tone, and writing style and communication style, in a way that\u2019s kind of intimate. It fosters a level of trust and transparency, which is what we\u2019re all about,\u201d Oppenheim said.<\/p>\n As part of the deal, Verizon will have its own branded text-message interview series, published on Semafor\u2019s site once a month and promoted with paid social posts. They will be distinguished from the editorial-led ones with a \u201cpartner message\u201d label at the top, and a headline that reads \u201cA conversation with Verizon,\u201d and will not appear in newsletters. Semafor CEO Justin Smith will be interviewed by Verizon Business CEO and evp Sowmyanarayan Sampath for the first installment<\/a>, and other interviewees in business, tech, policy, sports and entertainment sectors will be determined by Verizon and Semafor\u2019s business team.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all part of a larger deal with Verizon throughout the year that includes digital and newsletter advertising and event sponsorships. It wasn\u2019t clear whether this expansion was part of Verizon\u2019s original deal or whether this was a reinvestment in Semafor from the brand.<\/p>\n The current shaky ad market means custom content and advertorials are a \u201charder sell\u201d due to advertisers\u2019 \u201cpriorities shifting,\u201d Horizon\u2019s Stone said. It\u2019s a tough environment for a publisher to find new clients that want to \u201cgo deeper than just your typical banners or pre-roll ads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Semafor\u2019s pitch to the ad market is focused on corporate reputation and brand reputation. The publisher reaches readers mainly in the business, policy and media sectors, Oppenheim said. She declined to share how many new advertisers Semafor has secured since its launch, and which new brands it\u2019s received money from.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our clients are looking for more lower-funnel evaluation and the return on investment. That\u2019s why it\u2019s going to be a struggle, but also why they will probably need to lean in with those clients and make sure a client is going to be more loyal,\u201d Stone said of Semafor\u2019s deal with Verizon.<\/p>\n For the majority of Tinuiti\u2019s clients, placement in news content \u201creally does not drive the needle,\u201d said Nii Ahene, chief strategy officer at the performance marketing agency, where 80% of clients are retail brands, such as Etsy, Nestl\u00e9 and Elf Cosmetics.<\/p>\n As for the other 20% of Tinuiti\u2019s clients \u2014 mostly B2B marketers \u2014 there is a \u201ctime and place for prestige placements in digital media,\u201d Ahene said. But it all depends on how well the publisher can either show scale or the value of their audience, such as event attendance and offering sponsored packages to do joint webinars, he said.<\/p>\n Advertisers \u201care critical of the budgets that they\u2019re spending\u201d right now, Ahene said. \u201cOn any sort of upper funnel channel, there\u2019s a higher burden of showing that that media is actually performing.\u201d<\/p>\n Oppenheim declined to share what sponsor metrics Semafor is guaranteeing against. Semafor has surpassed its ad revenue goals and the audience growth it forecasted to advertisers, she said, declining to say by how much. She did not respond to an emailed question asking how many people are on the sales team, but said Semafor\u2019s commercial team (advertising, sales, marketing and product staff) had grown by 50% since its launch.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nQ&A via text message<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA challenging ad market means a \u2018harder sell<\/strong>\u2018<\/h2>\n