Dotdash Meredith's guest appearances

Dotdash Meredith

The World According to Boyar

The Rebooting Show

Neil Vogel

Ryan Serhant

David Skok

Austin Rief

Mellody Hobson

Tobias Carlisle

Scott Turow

Barry Diller

Ken Langone

Cherie Hu

Frank Blake

Joe Marchese

Mario Gabelli

David Zaslav

Sara Fischer

OwlTail

Everyone loves a comeback, but few companies get them in the consumer internet business. ( Most companies have peaked and then set course on inevitable decline, with new owners either milking the asset on the way down or floundering unsuccessfully to reinvigorate the asset. That’s why it’s noteworthy what IAC has done with Internet 1.0 stalwart About.com. It was a company long past its peak in the first phase of digital publishing, having begun all the way back in 1994 as a place to find “expert” answers. Some takeaways from our conversation:  Having a good user experience doesn’t have to come at the expense of the business. Media is hard. I always mention how difficult it is to satisfy different constituencies: audience, advertisers, algorithms. Dotdash has proven that you can have fewer ads, faster sites and better content and still make more money. Print still has an important role. Everyone likes to call things dead, and print isn’t going to be the driver of many media businesses going forward. But it still plays a role. I think it’s a good sign that someone like Neil is bullish on print, run efficiently, doing the job of being a statement of the brand. Driving transactions is critical, but maybe not building products. There’s lots of talk of commerce media here in Cannes. Publishers have seen their commerce businesses as bright spots. Dotdash has a large chunk of their business in driving transactions. Still, Neil strikes a note of caution when discussing turning that into actually making products versus passing on customer to product companies. These are often different businesses.

Everyone loves a comeback, but few companies get them in the consumer internet business. ( Most companies have peaked and then set course on inevitable decline, with new owners either milking the asset on the way down or floundering unsuccessfully to reinvigorate the asset. That’s why it’s noteworthy what IAC has done with Internet 1.0 stalwart <a href="http://About.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">About.com</a>. It was a company long past its peak in the first phase of digital publishing, having begun all the way back in 1994 as a place to find “expert” answers. Some takeaways from our conversation: <ul> <li>Having a good user experience doesn’t have to come at the expense of the business. Media is hard. I always mention how difficult it is to satisfy different constituencies: audience, advertisers, algorithms. Dotdash has proven that you can have fewer ads, faster sites and better content and still make more money.</li> <li>Print still has an important role. Everyone likes to call things dead, and print isn’t going to be the driver of many media businesses going forward. <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/05/31/exclusive-dotdash-meredith-targeting-print-investments" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">But it still plays a role</a>. I think it’s a good sign that someone like Neil is bullish on print, run efficiently, doing the job of being a statement of the brand.</li> <li>Driving transactions is critical, but maybe not building products. There’s lots of talk of commerce media here in Cannes. Publishers have seen their commerce businesses as bright spots. Dotdash has a large chunk of their business in driving transactions. Still, Neil strikes a note of caution when discussing turning that into actually making products versus passing on customer to product companies. These are often different businesses.</li></ul>

Neil Vogel on Dotdash Meredith's best, fastest, fewest strategy 

The Interview Discusses: How Dotdash in a relatively short period of time became the largest publisher in the United States.IAC's recent acquisition of Meredith and why he believes they now have the scale to effectively compete against Facebook and GoogleLessons learned from working with media mogul Barry Diller.The future of print magazines and why Dotdash is intentionally shrinking their subscriber base.The tremendous licensing opportunities they intend to take advantage of.A potential spinout of Dotdash from parent company IAC.Biography:Neil Vogel is the CEO of Dotdash Meredith, the largest digital and print publisher in America. Prior to its acquisition of Meredith in December 2021, Mr. Vogel was the CEO of Dotdash, where he led the company’s transformation from a general information website (then About.com) to a vibrant collection of branded properties and one of the largest and fastest-growing online publishers. Before joining Dotdash, Mr. Vogel was the Founder and CEO of Recognition Media, a creator and producer of award shows and media properties for digital, creative, and advertising communities including the Webby Awards and the Telly Awards. Prior to starting Recognition Media, Mr. Vogel was Chief Corporate Development Officer at Alloy Media + Marketing, a digital content and marketing services company focused on the teen and youth market. Mr. Vogel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest newspaper in America operated as a public-benefit corporation and serves as a venture partner at FirstMark Capital. He received a BS in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.The Boyar Value Group's mission is to search for value on behalf of our clients. Since 1975, the Boyar family of companies has been relentlessly focused on discovering value for our clients. For more than four decades we have navigated through fads, gimmicks and market volatility. Utilizing value investing to try to create and preserve wealth has and always will be our sole focus. Our experienced team of analysts looks for diamonds in the rough, companies passed over by the rest of the investment community, but whose true value, in our opinion, significantly exceeds their current stock price. In essence, we are trying to buy a dollar for fifty cents. To find out more about the Boyar Value Group, please visit www.boyarvaluegroup.com

The Interview Discusses: <ul><li>How Dotdash in a relatively short period of time became the largest publisher in the United States.</li><li>IAC's recent acquisition of Meredith and why he believes they now have the scale to effectively compete against Facebook and Google</li><li>Lessons learned from working with media mogul Barry Diller.</li><li>The future of print magazines and why Dotdash is intentionally shrinking their subscriber base.</li><li>The tremendous licensing opportunities they intend to take advantage of.</li><li>A potential spinout of Dotdash from parent company IAC.</li></ul>Biography: Neil Vogel is the CEO of Dotdash Meredith, the largest digital and print publisher in America. Prior to its acquisition of Meredith in December 2021, Mr. Vogel was the CEO of Dotdash, where he led the company’s transformation from a general information website (then <a href="http://About.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">About.com</a>) to a vibrant collection of branded properties and one of the largest and fastest-growing online publishers. Before joining Dotdash, Mr. Vogel was the Founder and CEO of Recognition Media, a creator and producer of award shows and media properties for digital, creative, and advertising communities including the Webby Awards and the Telly Awards. Prior to starting Recognition Media, Mr. Vogel was Chief Corporate Development Officer at Alloy Media + Marketing, a digital content and marketing services company focused on the teen and youth market. Mr. Vogel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest newspaper in America operated as a public-benefit corporation and serves as a venture partner at FirstMark Capital. He received a BS in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.The Boyar Value Group's mission is to search for value on behalf of our clients. Since 1975, the Boyar family of companies has been relentlessly focused on discovering value for our clients. For more than four decades we have navigated through fads, gimmicks and market volatility. Utilizing value investing to try to create and preserve wealth has and always will be our sole focus. Our experienced team of analysts looks for diamonds in the rough, companies passed over by the rest of the investment community, but whose true value, in our opinion, significantly exceeds their current stock price. In essence, we are trying to buy a dollar for fifty cents. To find out more about the Boyar Value Group, please visit <a href="http://www.boyarvaluegroup.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.boyarvaluegroup.com</a>

Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash Meredith on how they became the largest publisher in the United States and why they can now compete with both Google/Facebook plus much more…