The Huffington Post has said it wants to have at least 50 per cent of its content to be video in the next few years.
Presenting at ADMA’s Global Forum in Sydney, HuffPost Australia’s CEO Chris Janz teased the audience with a video of what’s to come from the publisher, particularly in Australia where the publication is launching August 19, with Fairfax Media as its launch partner.
One of the massive pushes moving forward is to increase its video offering.
“For us, video isn’t just a section on the side of the site,” said Janz. “Within a couple of years we want 50 per cent of our content to be video.”
The video content is coming from a variety of sources, such as the launch of an original series and a segment called HuffPost Live which operates out of New York.
Native advertising is also a big push for the publication, which makes sense as Janz noted almost 40 per cent of HuffPost’s revenue comes from native advertising.
Referencing one native campaign the publication did with US fast food chain Chipotle, Janz exemplified the success of the native was how the content still stood up editorially, even when removing the brand.
And as much of the traffic comes from a mobile device, the publication had to find another revenue avenue that wasn’t display or banner ads.
“Traditional display ads were not built for mobile,” he said, adding in the social media aspect, neither was banner advertising, as “banner advertising typically isn’t shared”.
Referencing the impending launch in Australia on August 19 Janz revealed to the audience the publication had more than 1800 editorial applications, with the company only taking on 30.
The vast array of applicants meant the team were able to take the pick of the bunch.
Leading the team Down Under is ex-News Corp journo Tory Maguire.
