BUILDING THE NEXT
MEDIA ECONOMY
I’m Ann Marinovich. Godmother of brand journalism. Media futurist. Operator of $10M to $125M+ media businesses.
I’ve spent my career building media businesses at moments of change.
At Forbes, I took over BrandVoice roughly two years after launch and scaled it from six figures to $50M+ in annual revenue, helping define a new industry category: brand journalism. I also advised several Fortune 500 companies build their own brand newsrooms.
I’ve since led teams and P&Ls at TIME, The Information, and Adweek, across subscriptions, content, partnerships, product, and events.
What ties it together is a belief about where media is going. As AI makes content infinite, value moves to trust, community, and human connection. That idea shapes my work, my writing, and my talks.
Today I'm focused on my next chapter: leading a media or content business as a General Manager, COO, or Chief Growth Officer. In the meantime, I advise start-ups, media companies, and creators, and serve on the board of the BOMESI Foundation.
Forbes BrandVoice: from six figures to a $50M business
How brand journalism became a category-defining business.
BrandVoice case study for UNICEF USA
The challenge
I took over BrandVoice about two years after launch. It was a first-to-market idea with a two-person team and six-figure revenue, and no proven model for scaling it.
What I did
• Built Forbes’ first centralized data warehouse and content analytics stack, so content decisions and recommendations to brands were driven by audience insights
• Led product development for BrandVoice influencing the overall site design and UX
• Evolved the business model, go-to-market strategy, operations, and team
• Helped several Fortune 500 companies build their own brand journalism practices and newsrooms
The results
• $50M+ in annual revenue
• Team grown from 2 to 60
• Fortune 500 brands adopting the model in-house and publishers content studios becomes a standard
What it taught me
Brand journalism works best when storytelling and data come together to create differentiated content that delivers real value to audiences. Whether you're a brand, creator or a media company, trust must be earned, and value must be exchanged. I believe this to be the foundation of the next media economy.
The Information: 400% revenue growth without sacrificing subscriber experience
The challenge
A premium subscription publication for senior technology executives needed new revenue lines, without eroding the trust of subscribers.
What I did
I joined to lead brand partnerships and was promoted within a year to General Manager of B2B, with P&L responsibility for corporate subscriptions, events, and advertising partnerships. I built the company's first advertising and partnership platform, designed to match its editorial standards and subscriber-first model, and built the commercial team from scratch.
The results
• 400% YoY revenue growth
• $2M+ in new revenue from the advertising platform in year one utilizing custom research and branded content • Built the commercial and go-to-market strategy for new editorial franchise launches including the creator economy
• A commercial team built from the ground up
What it taught me
Protecting trust and growing revenue aren't opposites. The right model makes each support the other.
Adweek: breaking down silos to build one integrated content business
The challenge
Adweek's editorial, events, sales, marketing, and subscription teams worked as separate silos, each with its own priorities. I was recruited as Chief Content Officer to evolve all content formats around audience value, then expanded into Acting COO, reporting to the CEO.
What I did
• Unified editorial, social, newsletters, events, audio and video, and branded content under Adweek's first company-wide content strategy
• Aligned editorial, commercial, and operational priorities across a 75-person global organization
• Restructured financial reporting and planning to create product-level accountability
• Created Practical Insights and launched Marketing Vanguard, an invitation-only CMO community
The results
• Events net profit from 11% to 50% in one year
• Practical Insights, year one: +20% audience engagement, benchmark targets exceeded on new subscriptions, subscription conversions, and pageviews
• One integrated content ecosystem, with new audience, community, and engagement engines
What it taught me
When the entire organization shares one strategy, audiences become communities, and communities become businesses.
Why H2H?
Business has always been human to human.
We talk about B2B and B2C as if businesses and consumers are fundamentally different. But behind every business, every brand, and every audience is a person.
Technology continues to transform how we create, distribute, and monetize content. But the things that create lasting value haven’t changed: trust, relevance, great storytelling, and human connection.
I believe those principles will define the next media economy. They’re also how I’ve approached building businesses, leading teams, and creating partnerships throughout my career.
That’s why I believe in H2H.
Moderating a conversation for LinkedIn on diversity in advertising
Speaking Engagements
I am passionate about providing individuals actionable insights to help navigate their businesses. I speak on where media is heading, and how to build for it.
Stages have included SXSW and the CMO Club, with past appearances for organizations including LinkedIn, IAB, Digital Content Next, Brandweek, Social Media Week, and The Female Quotient.
Topics: The next media economy · Brand journalism in the AI era · Why the future is human to human · Turning audiences into communities
What I’m Exploring
AI and the changing value equation are creating new possibilities for how media is built, experienced, and monetized. These are the questions I'm exploring:
The community economy: How do media organizations create deeper value exchange with their subscribers and communities they serve?
Next-generation media companies: How do creator and personality-driven media companies turn trust, expertise, and audience relationships into enterprises?
New distribution and discovery models: How do we help people find what matters when content becomes infinite?
Decision intelligence: How can storytelling, community, data, expertise, and AI help people make better decisions?
Humanity + AI: What becomes more valuable precisely because it is human?
The growth question is changing from “How do we get more people to consume our content?” to “What else can we help people do?”