Mode Media
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Mode Media, originally Glam Media, was a US lifestyle publisher and advertising network founded in 2004 by Samir Arora. It aggregated premium vertical content channels in lifestyle and fashion, reaching a reported 137 million monthly visitors, and owned the Ning social network platform. At its peak it raised over $225 million and was once valued at about $1 billion.
02 / Mode Media FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Programmatic commoditized Mode: brands reached the same audiences cheaply via Facebook or exchanges, no Glam salesperson needed. Publisher revenue-sharing plus a big sales team and heavy infrastructure was a high-cost structure on commodity inventory. The $150M Ning acquisition consumed ~$30M, free spending alarmed investors, and Burda ousted CEO Samir Arora in April 2016. After five failed months seeking financing or a buyer, Mode shut down on September 15, 2016, leaving bloggers unpaid.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Samir Arora founds Glam Media in California, building a vertical ad network around lifestyle and fashion content.
- Product launch
Glam Media rebrands as Mode Media and pivots toward programmatic, video and native advertising, which come to make up 75 percent of the business.
- Operations ended
On September 15, 2016, Mode Media abruptly shuts down after five months of failed attempts to raise financing or find a buyer; its Ning division passes to Cyndx.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Glam Media: premium vertical ad network in lifestyle content
- 02
Programmatic ads commoditize the core display business
- 03
High cost structure over commodity inventory; $150M Ning debt
- 04
Failed 5-month search for a buyer; abrupt shutdown Sept 15, 2016