Startups used to be obsessed with billboards. It was the first thing I noticed when I moved to San Francisco: venture-backed companies including Eaze, Airbnb, and notoriously, Brex, would post large billboard advertisements all over the city to grab attention and eyeballs. When I dug into it more, I learned this type of old school, outdoor advertising was a response to the increasingly crowded online channels, such as Facebook and Instagram advertisements.
Well, folks, years later, we have a new response to crowded marketing channels: Ditch the billboards and just buy a media company instead. There has been a recent push for startups and venture capital firms to acquire or create media companies, which I’d argue is them finding a creative way to position content marketing. This past week, Axios discovered that Coinbase is launching a media operation about cryptocurrency. At the same time, Clubhouse wants to hire freelance writers, while its biggest lead investor to-date, Andreessen Horowitz, has ambitions to open up an opinion desk. Other news bits like The Skimm exploring a…
