Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Digiday’s Lucia Moses has a piece noting GE’s significant steps into the world of digital publishing:
GE has used sites like The Economist and Quartz for native advertising to promote itself as a supporter of innovation. But its biggest and most visible effort to date came in March with the introduction of #pressing, a policy news hub that pulls in content from millennial-aimed Vox, where #pressing made a splash as a launch sponsor.
Other content partners are CNN, Politico, NBC News, Slate and Fox News.
GE’s sponsorship of Vox has indeed been eye-catching, from large ads at the bottom of stories to preroll on Vox videos.
The #pressing website aggregated GE-sponsored content from Vox, Fox, NBC, CNN, and elsewhere.
But #pressing isn’t the only stab GE has made at outsourcing the production of editorial content to experts in hopes of promoting its expansive brand:
Earlier in the year, its financing unit GE Capital launched Mid-Market Pulse, a news site focused on mid-sized companies, GE Capital’s target market. Slate’s branded content unit, Slate Custom, conceived of and manages the site’s content.
When you consider the variety of places around the Internet you might come into contact with content that sponsored by GE — not just on their own sites, but on lots of partner sites as well — it seems that GE is looking beyond what you might call sponsored content.
@ceodonovan Agreed. They also own a dozen of GE publications. I'm a tad surprised Pressing resembles Rebel Mouse and not Upworthy.
— Noah Chestnut (@noahchestnut) March 13, 2014
Moses goes so far as to ask whether GE-funded sites might not be planning to one day compete outright with advertising or subscriber backed media.
As for Mid-Market, though, Nelson said it’s been growing steadily and that the ambition is to continue it indefinitely. “The goal is, this is someone’s Monday morning destination. We’re filling a void.”
@raju Hmm working with them at The Econ, they did seem to aspire to the news biz. They want to be what ppl read 1st thing in the morn.
— Emma Gardner (@EmmaBGardner) June 26, 2014
