Media Moves

Steven Swartz

Hearst registered a seventh straight year of record profits in 2017, according to company president and CEO Steven Swartz, though total company revenue ($10.8 billion) was flat compared with 2016. In a public letter to Hearst employees, Swartz said that the company’s “efforts to build and acquire great companies in the business data and software sector helped overcome a tough year for many of our consumer media franchises.” Hearst’s Business Media division, which includes Hearst Health and Hearst Transportation, accounted for 28 percent of the company’s total 2017 profit, Swartz said. As regards Hearst’s consumer publishing arm, Swartz noted the continuing success of such titles as the Food Network Magazine and HGTV Magazine, and cited the “shot in the arm” that Hearst’s acquisition of Rodale promises to provide. However, he also acknowledged the challenges faced by Hearst’s print and traditional TV platforms. “With respect to many of our titles,” he wrote, “we need the readers to pay more for the product. And we need to find a way to make digital subscription products work for magazines in the way that they are starting to work for newspapers.”

Hoda Kotb

Hoda Kotb will be replacing Matt Lauer in the co-anchor’s chair alongside Savannah Guthrie for the first two hours of NBC’s “Today” show. That will make “Today” the only national morning program with an officially all-female anchor team. Kotb has been filling in at the spot since Lauer was fired on Nov. 29 following allegations of sexual misconduct. Since then, “Today” has consistently pulled in more viewers—overall and among the 25-to-54 demographic—than “Good Morning America” or “CBS This Morning.” “Over the past several weeks, Hoda has seamlessly stepped into the co-anchor role,” said NBC News Group chairman Andy Lack. Kotb will remain as co-host of the show’s 10 a.m. hour, a position she has held since 2007.

Hillary Frey

Hillary Frey has been appointed Executive Editor at HuffPost. She has been director of editorial strategy at the site, where she was previously a constultant, since June 2017. She has held several other executive positions, including executive editor and director of global news operations at Fusion, a Univision-owned English-language platform aimed at a young, diverse audience. She has also served as editorial director at NBCNews.com, editor in chief at Yahoo! News, society and media editor at Politico and managing editor at Adweek.