Seven West Media has announced it will be taking back digital assets for Pacific Magazines from Yahoo7 - a move many believe signals danger of a crumbling digital alliance.
Under the new agreement Yahoo7 will no longer maintain sales and editorial control for the digital elements of Pac Mags. Instead, Seven West Media will take over the reins of mastheads including Better Homes and Gardens, marie claire, Girlfriend, and Who. Yahoo7 will continue to create native advertising for Pacific Magazines, but aspects such as e-commerce will move back in-house.
Pacific Magazines CEO Peter Zavecz comments in a statement: “We have come together to evolve our partnership into one that better reflects the changing media landscape, our audiences’ and clients’ expectations and the inherent complementary strengths of Pacific and Yahoo7.
“Our clients will benefit from a single solution across all platforms, whilst the consumer experience will be seamless across publishing, social, video and online. This will drive our deep expertise in content, brands and categories whilst completing our multi-platform offering and total audience footprint.”
Yahoo7 CEO Ed Harrison denied to The Australian that this signalled a complete dissolution of the digital partnership: “It’s a positive development for both shareholders. While Seven has been keen to have some digital ventures sit outside of the JV, that doesn’t mean they are less supportive of the ventures within the JV.”
