Time Inc.

Major premium publisher leveraging first-party audience data for people-based advertising; a top-tier media company competing with digital-native platforms for advertising dollars

Time Inc. was one of the largest magazine publishers in the United States, home to iconic titles including Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle. Founded as part of the Time Warner empire, Time Inc. was spun off as an independent publicly traded company in 2014. At its peak, the company reached over 120 million consumers across its print and digital properties. In the AdTech space, Time Inc. invested heavily in building first-party data capabilities and programmatic advertising infrastructure to compete in the digital advertising landscape. The company developed its proprietary People Graph data platform, which aggregated audience data across its portfolio of brands to offer advertisers highly targeted audience segments. Time Inc. also made several strategic acquisitions in the AdTech and data space, including Viant Technology (a people-based advertising platform) and MySpace's parent company Viant, to bolster its data-driven advertising capabilities. Time Inc. was acquired by Meredith Corporation in January 2018 for approximately $2.8 billion, backed by Koch Equity Development. Following the acquisition, Meredith sold several Time Inc. titles and eventually rebranded its combined operations. The People Graph and Viant assets became central to the combined company's advertising technology strategy, though Viant was later spun off as an independent public company. Time Inc.'s legacy in AdTech lies in its pioneering efforts to leverage premium publisher first-party data for people-based advertising at scale.