As digital media continues to rapidly advance, publishers are offered a variety of potential new revenue streams beyond traditional advertising. Today’s panel Modern-day Publisher Models: Beyond Advertising at SXSW featured a collection of industry professionals who shared their insights on diversification of publisher revenue.

Speakers included President of Brit + Co Jill Braff, VP of Mktg & Business Development at
Condé Nast Jill Friedman, and Chief Revenue Officer at Food52 Sam Stahl.

Braff said one of Brit + Co‘s most successful revenue streams currently is their class offerings. With over 200,000 enrollees, these classes contain a wide range of subject matter and have been hugely impactful for female entrepreneurs.

“It speaks to the way women can find particular education and subject matter that interests them and there’s nowhere else like it that lets them go this deep at their own pace, one-on-one with the teachers. The feedback we receive about these classes is truly extraordinary,” Braff said.

Stahl discussed the impressive growth of Food52‘s thriving e-comm business over the last year. He said listening to the feedback from their community is what really launched the e-commerce model.

“At this point in time, our commerce business is actually bigger than our advertising business. However, it is nice to have those two consistent ways to make money.”

At Condé Nast, Friedman said they are seeing a great amount of revenue driven by the Allure Beauty Box. Based on editor recommendations, they’ve been able to drive 60 million women to try these products.

“I can consider it a success because it’s up about 33% in revenue, it’s up higher in profit, and definitely in terms of sub-base. Our differentiation is that the editor’s curate the box.”

In addition to consumer revenue, the boxes also drive mag sales as well as conversion to full-size sales that generate e-comm and affiliate revenue.

Braff touched on the power of active consumer engagement when diversifying advertising strategy.

“It’s much easier to go to advertisers and make money from more than just advertising when you know that you have an engaged consumer leaning into whatever you’re creating on their behalf.”

When it comes to making decisions on what kinds of strategies to use with a brand, Stahl insisted the content should come from a place of authenticity.

“Our consumers can sniff out when something’s not real. So, when we’re thinking about ways to do this, a lot of it is evaluating partnerships and seeing what fits into our brand.”

Friedman said that this authenticity is offered as part of the beauty box by their personalized editorial selections.

All three panelists agreed that resource availability is one of the biggest factors when it comes to successfully implementing these additional revenue streams. These resources can be in terms of digital, financial, or personnel. Stahl said at Food52, it’s important to allocate resources effectively. Braff agreed, adding “resources are a very clarifying reality in a startup.”

Much like its medium, the future of digital revenue is constantly evolving and this panel highlighted just a few publishers who are discovering new ways to evolve with it.