'We think there's a need for a more focused publication:' Skift wants to expand from travel and dining into wellness
- The six-year-old travel publication Skift is launching a new vertical focused on wellness.
- The company has also made its first acquisition with the email newsletter Airline Weekly
- Founder and CEO Rafat Ali said that with the new vertical the company now covers the "business of leisure."
- Revenue is expected to increase 45% this year across advertising, events and subscriptions.
In a media industry that is increasingly shrinking and chopping staffs, Skift thinks it's found a formula to grow.
The six-year-old company got its start in covering the ins and outs of the travel industry. Now, it's making its first acquisition and rolling out new verticals to cover the broader "business of leisure," said founder and CEO Rafat Ali.
According to Ali, Skift's revenue is on track to hit eight figures this year with 60 employees, up 45% from last year. Next year, he expects similar growth and will add another 20 to 25 employees next year.
Skift wants to get into the business of wellness
Skift is rolling out a new vertical focused on wellness. The vertical will function similarly to the site's existing travel and dining verticals and will consist of news, research and conferences.
Journalist Leslie Berrie is joining Skift as editor of wellness and Skift will start its coverage with a weekly newsletter, possibly turning it into a daily newsletter over the next six months. By 2020, Ali said that he envisions organizing one of the company's tentpole events- called Skift Global Forum conferences - specifically about wellness.
The wellness category is exploding across lots of industries, Ali said. Brands like Hyatt and Marriott are investing in wellness with special non-travel packages and offerings. Meanwhile athleisure brands are trying to compete against apparel names like Nike and Lululemon and brands like Goop are capitalizing on wellness within health and beauty.
"It used to be that only people in health, beauty and nutrition looked at wellness as a sector and now aspirations of wellness are in every sector - travel and hospitality, food and dining, beauty, fashion, real estate, tech, media," Ali said.
"I think the business of modern wellness writ large from a business and media perspective is open, and I bet you will see other people come into it - we think there's a need for a more focused publication."
Ali said that there's a common thread across travel, dining and wellness, which slightly broadens Skift's focus to the "leisure" industry.
"We see ourselves as a business information company in the business of leisure," Ali said. "I wasn't thinking about wellness three months ago - it just sort of came together and I said, 'yes, of course it makes total sense.'"
Skift still wants to grow in travel, too
Skift has also made its first acquisition to build out its airline coverage and expand its subscription business. Airline Weekly is a 14-year-old email subscription product that covers airline CEOs founded by Jason Cottrell, Seth Kaplan and Jay Shabat and is becoming part of Skift.
Ali said that he's interested in tweaking Airline Weekly's pricing (which is currently $775 per year), hiring more staffers and maybe turning it into a conference by 2020 that would be targeted towards airline CEOs and execs.
"Much like other media, we care about subscription revenue - everyone's working on it," Ali said. "We think that we can take the newsletter and modernize it in terms of marketing and design."
Ali said he's currently got his eye on six to seven other companies within the "leisure" space, which could result in one to two acquisitions.
"We can afford two to three people-type companies that have existing revenue," he said.
Asia is another big focus. The company has hired Joey Kukielka as its first head of sales in Asia and is hiring an editor to start covering the travel industry in Asia. A conference in the area is planned for May 27 next year.
40% of Skift's revenue comes from sponsored content and advertising, another 40% comes from events and the other 20% comes from research and subscriptions. Ideally, Ali would like to balance out its revenue to be equally split between subscriptions, events and advertising.
Skift wants to put money back into the industry, too
Skift has also opened a nonprofit corporate giving arm called the Skift Foundation to give back to the travel industry, primarily "under-resourced destinations."
The goal is to help small businesses with everything from marketing and branding, access to Skift's products or money.
For the first initiative, Skift is working with Foundation for Puerto Rico to build tourism on the island by working with a few small tourism business to provide marketing and branding resources.
"We think there's a lot we can do - we're still a tiny company but it's a start," Ali said.
