Meredith finds a new role for branded content during COVID-19

US magazine publisher Meredith adopts an outcomes-based approach to branded content partnerships.

Magazines, already feeling the pinch in ‘old normal’ times, have been hit hard by the decline in ad spend resulting from the pandemic. At the start of the year, WARC Data estimated a 5.6% drop in ad revenues for magazine publishers in 2020; in May, that forecast was downgraded to -21.5%, a steeper decline in spend than all other channels bar OOH and cinema media.

That ominous prediction has already begun to manifest itself in the form of dispiriting financial results. Meredith Corporation – America’s biggest magazine publisher, and owner of titles including People, Better...

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