The transition to digital isn't a war that will be won in one epic Trafalgar, but rather a long and drawn out series of skirmishes. New technology matters as much as unsexy things like new business operations and internal restructures - and that's why it's woth paying attention when leading publishers shake things up.
Magazine publisher Bauer Media has restructered its commercial team of 100 people by splitting up a centralised sales team and placing sales managers within individual brands. That means that titles such as Empire, Heat and Kiss 100 radio will have their own commercial teams responsible for selling space across all media.
Why does this matter? Because Bauer is selling against its brands not its platforms. So whereas previsously people were in charge of "digital sales" or "print sales", they are now looking after monetising brands however they best can. "The move is aimed at streamlining advertisers’ ability to connect with audiences across multiple platforms," as the press release puts it.
It's a small but important shift and mirrors the on-going acceptance of live breaking news online as a fact of life. Bauer is privately owned and doesn't publish revenue figures, but it's safe to say it's reliant on printed magazine ads, subscriptions and newsstand sales.
Digital motivation
Andrea Kilbourne, digital director for lifestyle and advertising, will oversee the innovation side of the new "trading hub" which will be a single point of contact for advertisers.
She tells TheMediaBriefing: "The way that we have been structured in the past was a large sales team - but now we have separated our trading activity to focus on individual brands. We are focusing on brands rather than platforms.
"This allows us to produce much better and innovative solutions for customers. And that's really because they (commercial teams) will know the editors, the clients and customers and have that in-depth knowledge."
There will be specialists however: three digital directors will still work across all the Bauer platforms, whose remit is to experiment with new technology and techniques, but Kilbourne assure me that "Digital is at the heart of this."
That all sounds very 21st century - will this trading hub be getting involved with real-time bidding ad exchanges and supply-side platforms, leading a new automated approach for Bauer's online inventory? Er, no.
"We do do a little bit of that... but the yield is low and our core brands are premium - people buy into them because of the environment they're in."
But another skirmish on the battle to monetise both new and traditional media in smarter ways.
Newsletter Subscriptions
If you liked this article you can sign up to receive free weekly newsletters from the site by clicking here
TheMediaBriefing Social