Why Would a Publisher with Own Vertical Network Hook Up with Federated?
Turns out ZDE actually does need the extra sales muscle.
DeveloperShed, Ziff Davis Enterpriseās 12-site tech network of developer communities, has joined Federated Media, a blog aggregator and service provider that brings independent publishers into its network by offering to take on their ad sales.
The five-year-old DeveloperShed will become part of FMās Technology federationāone of about 10 other verticals that include sports, automotive, media and entertainment, and video gaming. DeveloperShed merged with ZDE in August 2007 as the tech publisher completed its spin-out from Ziff Davis.
Twelve sites strong, one could argue that ZDE already has its own budding āad network,ā and the company is no newcomer to integrated ad sales with a fleet of established products that span print, online and events.
But why would they hook up with Federated?
Itās a move thatās contrary to efforts by publishers that have started up their own vertical blog networks to boost their ad power (Forbes.com, and IDG, among others). Itās also intriguing, as VentureBeat points out, in light of some big-name sites that have dropped out of Federatedās network as they get scooped up by other, traditional publisher-backed companiesāArs Technica, bought by Wired, and Celebrity Baby Blog, bought by Time Inc.ās People.com, for example.
DeveloperShedās 12 sites aggregate a large, IT-oriented audienceā6 million unique visitors and 27 million page views per monthāso itās a significant partnership for Federated, which gets a big audience and a presumably large chunk of real estate to sell.
ZDE, as it turns out, actually does need the sales muscle Federated provides. Plus, ZDE CEO Steve Weitzner tells me DevShedās user-generated content fits with Federatedās blog network profile. āDevShed is a subsidiary of Ziff Davis Enterprise,ā he says. āIt has its own sales team and marketing addressing its audience of software developers. Historically, DevShed has maintained a small sales team to call on key accounts and has employed sales reps for mid-size and smaller accounts. The vast majority of DevShed's content isāand always has beenāuser generated, we believe it fits well with Federatedās āconversational mediaā approach so we have signed them up to replace our previous reps. DevShedās direct sales team will continue to serve the sitesā key customers.ā
--
COMMENTS/DISCUSS: 2
Post Comment / Discuss This Blog - Info/Rules


















