Vox Media Will Host 100+ Events in 2023 as It Bolsters Its Experiential Portfolio

The news and culture publisher Vox Media is on pace to host more than 100 events this year––an 18% increase from 2021, according to the publisher—and a key indicator of the growing emphasis it plans to place on its slate of experiential offerings. In 2023, the media company aims to reintroduce a number of previously mothballed events from Group Nine titles, such as Thrillist and PopSugar, which it acquired in December 2021, said Jackie Cinguina, the senior vice president of marketing and communications at Vox Media. It has also made key changes to existing franchises, such as offering a virtual, ticketed experience to its exclusive tech conference Code, which journalist Kara Swisher will host for the last time this week after headlining the event for two decades. The heightened focus on events comes as the role they play for publishers grows increasingly important, said Eric Fleming, the chief operating officer of experiential production company Makeout. As brands and agencies continue to sign larger deals with fewer partners, events represent an asset for the media companies that can offer them as touchpoints for reaching new audiences. They also serve a critical role in the content and subscriptions flywheel for publishers, generating audio for podcasts, video for YouTube channels and exclusive perks for subscribers. And as publishers grapple more broadly with a potential economic slowdown, advertising interest in the experiential sector has proven resilient, Fleming said, largely thanks to a supply of pent-up consumer demand that has not yet abated. "The general feeling is that the desire to get together in-person still has 6 to 8 months of runway before people feel caught up," said Fleming. "A lot of that is simply connected to the ability to book venues: we are still feeling the compressing effects, when it comes to scheduling, of 18 months of shutdown." BuzzFeed’s Eat Your Feed Fest Will Debut Within ComplexCon Capturing a bigger share of wallet Of the more than 100 events Vox Media will orchestrate this year, 70% of them are branded, bespoke events in partnership with advertisers, Cinguina said. For instance, in June for a fashion brand that wanted to align with the Pride Parade in New York, Vox Media created an activation in which a photographer captured “chosen family” photos for attendees to share on social media. While these kinds of branded activations differ substantially in scope from consumer-facing festivals, like Vulture Festival and Pivot, they strengthen the value proposition of the publisher as it vies for advertising budgets from brands, Fleming said. In 2023, Vox Media hopes to bring back the PopSugar event Playground, aimed at a young female audience, as well as Girl Talk, which reaches a similar demographic but strikes a more substantive tone. The media company is also exploring ways to revive events from titles like Thrillist, which can complement CPG and liquor brands, as well as The Dodo. Meanwhile, it plans to continue growing new editorially rooted events like Stay Tuned with Preet Live, Hot Pod Summit and The Cut’s How I Get It Done dinner series, which can help Vox Media generate exclusive content that helps power its subscription pipeline. “Overall, we look at events not just as a business in itself, but a flywheel for other lines of business within Vox Media,” Cinguina said. How a Bet on Virtual Events Is Paying Off for TechCrunch A ticketed, virtual Code experience for the first time Code is one of the crown jewels in the Vox Media events business, an achievement aided by the cachet of Swisher and her ability to attract the biggest names in tech, which has long allowed the event to blur the line between business conference and consumer attraction. For instance, although editorial events often treat their pedigreed attendees with kid gloves, Swisher has traded on her reputation to turn on-stage interviews into meaningful moments of reporting. To celebrate her swan song, Code 2022 features an especially robust list of guests, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. An invitation-only event, only 20% of the executives who apply to attend are accepted—and the opportunity costs between $7,000 and $9,500 per ticket. This year, both to capitalize on the strong lineup and to honor the departure of Swisher, Code has offered a virtual, ticketed option for the first time in its history. In partnership with sponsor Zoom, anyone unable to attend in person can purchase a $150 pass to watch the event live or on-demand following the conference. Publishers experimented with ticketing virtual events throughout the pandemic and—in most cases—the value proposition failed to land for consumers, Fleming said. But given the line-up and the uncertainty surrounding this particular moment in time, Code could find traction where others have failed. Vox Media Expands CRO Remit to Include Subscriptions Oversight