The brand publishing shakeout

Absolutist statements are tempting. They make for good headlines and even better tweets. The same impulse has been applied to brand publications recently: That time is up for brands building their own media companies. It’s been a rocky few months for some companies’ brand publishing forays. Last week, Netflix sent tongues wagging when it laid off at least 10 people from Tudum – the brand publication that it launched last year. – after reporting a decrease in streaming subscribers for the first time in over a decade. The news, along with the fact that many of Tudum’s staffers were poached from traditional media jobs just a few months ago, led to a cascade of observations about how the good times were over for brand publishing.  Elsewhere, Stripe shut down Increment, it