Industry Dive's path to $100m in revenue

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This week’s episode of The Rebooting Show features a conversation I had with one of my favorite media success stories: Industry Dive, a collection of vertical industry sites. Sean and his team have grown Industry Dive into an example of a sturdy media business, on pace to break the $100 million in revenue mark next year with healthy margins. One request: If you listen to The Rebooting Show on Apple Podcasts, please leave a rating and review. Thanks to Alfred Westcott, who left a very nice review that ranked me “one of the best interviewers in media.”

Industry Dive is one of the most successful modern digital media businesses, even if it doesn’t get the attention of splashy consumer titles.

Sean Griffey, who founded Industry Dive in 2012 along with Ryan Willumson and Eli Dickenson, doesn’t mind flying under the radar compared to splashy consumer brands while Industry Dive focuses on industry verticals like retail, marketing, utilities and more. 

“This is a better business. It’s great you’re targeting millennial fashion consumers, but I’m in the electric utilities space and that matters to everyone. The industries we write about touch every person. I leaned into the boring part because I know it’s important. You call it boring, I call it profitable.”

It helps that Sean has receipts.

340 employees

2.5 million email subscriptions

25 publications

$85 million in revenue this year, $100 million expected next year

EBITDA margins above 25%

Here are key takeaways from our conversation:

Details matter

For all the talk of vision, the media business is an execution game. Industry Dive began in 2012 with a handful of publications and the idea that it would differentiate by providing a better user experience, focusing on the right industries, and sticking to what the team knew best.

“We thought there would be a chance to use the mobile experience to differentiate ourselves. We wanted to invest heavily in design. In business media it was pretty horrific. We wanted to invest in content. We thought niche media had abandoned that for leads over time.”

The power of niche

Scale and niche aren’t in opposition as often presented. But many digital media companies born around the time of Industry Dive took a different path. They focused more on general news audiences instead of specific areas. Industry Dive developed a formula for targeting industry sectors.

Industries changing rapidly due to tech and/or regulation

High capital spending

A buy and a sell side

Evidence of a vibrant market in the form of competing publications and trade shows

“There’s real value in 100,000 incredibly targeted, valuable people. In each of these markets, you could create a $10-20 million business, just marketing supported. But if you wanted a $500 million business, you had to do it a lot. For us it was how do you build a scaled niche business.”

Email is more than just a delivery mechanism

Email is the lifeblood of B2B media, allowing a direct connection to an audience – and a way to collect relevant information to understand the audience better. That’s why Industry Dive email subscribers can have a lifetime value of of hundreds of dollars.

“It’s a platform you own and nobody can take away. More importantly, it’s a push platform. There are very few things you can push to audiences vs pull, where they come to you. Email is also personally identifiable. You can start tyin