Vice Media Group Hires Former Group Nine CRO

The news and pop culture publisher Vice Media Group, which operates titles including Vice, Refinery29 and i-D, has hired Geoff Schiller as its executive vice president of commercial and sales strategy. Schiller started the newly created role on Monday, Sept. 12, Adweek has learned. In the position, which effectively functions as a chief revenue officer, Schiller will be responsible for growing revenue across the Vice Media Group portfolio, leading teams across sales, account management, media strategy, commercial brand, revenue operations and experiential. He will report to chief marketing officer Nadja Bellan-White. “I have a track record of success and a playbook for revenue transformation that has been refined over time,” Schiller said. “I am excited to take the creative firepower of the Vice brand to the marketplace, with a renewed focus on what makes us the most culturally relevant portfolio of brands.” Schiller joins Vice Media Group from Group Nine, where he helped PopSugar develop a sophisticated social media marketing strategy. Prior to joining Vice Media Group, Schiller served as the chief revenue officer of Group Nine, and before that he occupied the same role at PopSugar. Following the acquisition of Group Nine by Vox Media in December 2021, Schiller left the combined company. His hiring comes at an inflection point for Vice Media Group, which raised an additional $135 million in funding last September––its last valuation, in 2017, pegged the company as worth $5.7 billion. In recent months, outlets including The Information, CNBC and The New York Times, have reported on exploratory efforts from the publisher to sell a part or all of its business. Schiller downplayed the significance of the purported dealmaking, saying his hiring aims to signal the commitment of the publisher to its commercial objectives. “If you believe the press coverage, Vice has been on sale since 2010,” Schiller said. “If there’s an event, if there’s not an event––it doesn’t matter. What matters is the transformation Nancy [Dubuc] has spearheaded over the last few years and my role in contributing to that.” Vice Media Group Names Agency Veteran as Global CMO Increasing affiliate at Refinery29 and expanding social advertising efforts Vice Media Group houses a diverse portfolio of brands and businesses, including its advertising agency Virtue, its film studio Vice Studios and sub-brands including Munchies, Unbothered and Vice News. As a result, Schiller plans to familiarize himself with the franchises thoroughly before enacting significant change. However, three key areas for potential growth stood out. First, Schiller aims to bring the social media fluency he cultivated at Group Nine to the Vice Media Group, part of a larger effort to meet its audience where they consume content. While at Group Nine, PopSugar developed a social shopping program, as well as a performance marketing solution called G9 Direct, which Vox Media rebranded and relaunched in June Second, after years of competing with Refinery29 while at PopSugar, Schiller hopes to strengthen the affiliate strategy of the brand. During an unpredictable year for advertising budgets, beauty has remained a consistent source of spend, a number of sources have told Adweek. By investing more heavily into its affiliate business, Refinery29 seeks to take fuller advantage of its editorial strength. Finally, Schiller sees the rise and saturation of retail media networks as an opportunity for Vice Media Group. As the ecosystem grows more crowded, retailers will need to differentiate themselves, which relies in part on working with publisher partners to acquire their audience. With the imminent shifts in digital privacy, the networks will also need help with clean room technology and data-matching, Schiller said. “Similar to the streaming universe, retail media will eventually reach an inflection point,” he said. “That will mean more collaboration and more partnerships with influencer portfolios, like ours, to add value to their customer experience.” Publishers’ Affiliate Revenues Are Flagging—These 4 Charts Show Why

C-Suite

Vice Media Hires Former Group Nine CRO as EVP of Commercial and Sales Strategy

The appointment comes as the publisher is reportedly exploring the sale of its business

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg