Advertising Age (via Idolator) is reporting that Pitchfork and local music-mag Fader have joined forces to create what it describes as a “new strategic content and ad sales partnership.” What the hell is that?, you ask. Well, it’s not totally clear. “Fader and Pitchfork will be friends, maybe friends with benefits,” the article says enigmatically. “But definitely not together.”
From what we can gather, Pitchfork and Fader plan on sharing editorial and advertising content across a range of platforms—including print, online, and festivals—while keeping their ad and editorial teams fully intact at each publication. "The goal for us is to figure out the crossover where it makes perfect sense from a partnership standpoint,” says Pitchfork publisher Chris Kaskie. “To see where all our extremely loyal readers can be coupled with Fader‘s and what we can offer them in return." The key words here may be “readers” and “coupled.” With Pitchfork’s 1.6-million-strong online readership and Fader Media’s 1.3 million readers, the companies’ partnership doubles the audience each can offer its advertisers—which, of course, is something of a priority in this economy.
