Reflecting on the last year, I’m most grateful for the opportunity to join Salon, work with the incredible staff, and engage with our intelligent and voracious readers. The past few months have been truly thrilling and I’m proud to report that the writers have been breaking more scoops, the sales team has been closing more deals and the tech team has been launching more features, all of which has led to a 94 percent increase in traffic from June through October, according to ComScore.
From the latest breaking news to compelling long-form personal essays that you won’t see anywhere else, Salon has been able to grow its audience without sacrificing the diversity, depth and fearlessness we built our reputation on. I don’t want to single out writers, because everybody is doing incredible work -- whether it’s insightful election coverage or cultural analysis -- but Rebecca Traister deserves credit for winning the prestigious Front Page and Mirror Awards and, Mary Elizabeth Williams and Andrew Leonard should be congratulated for their Online News Association Award nominations.
Our sales team’s new vision has brought to the site innovative, custom ad integrations and new ways of matching user needs with advertisers'. This led to a direct advertising revenue increase of 21 percent in the past two quarters as compared to the same period last year.
In an effort to lead news innovation, our tech and product team focused on building our own site features. Over the last few months we launched an iPhone app, completely redesigned the website, introduced user-focused features, especially around social integration (which has significantly boosted our social reach), and made it easier to get around the site. And we’re just getting started.
For all of this and more, I am very thankful for Salon and excited about everything in the works for the future. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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