This conference call addresses the synergy between Maven and Hubpages. Focus is on how the 35 million unique visitors HP contributes brings the scale needed to maximize ad revenue.
The integration between the Maven and HP technical teams seems to already be well under way. Apparently there's going to be a big element of video in the new combined platform.
Interestingly, Paul Edmondson is listed as "former HubPages CEO and new Maven Chief Growth Officer," and much is made of how Maven has already helped HP increase monetization.
https://www.themaven.net/the-maven/inve … NyX0sL8jCQ
In addition, recent collaboration with po.et, a block chain company will also help with security and ownership and copyright...
Interesting, although the very positive conversation is primarily a sales pitch full of promises to attract advertisers and investors.
A few points I could make out from the business jargon:
HubPages will join as a separate entity, keeping its current payment structure to authors. They call it "commission based".
HubPages is apparently bringing 6000 authors to the Maven platform and increasing their currently 5 million unique visitors to 40 million.
Any future payments from Maven to HubPages will come as shares in the company?
The money Paul gets from Maven is to pay off his own original investors. Does that mean HP is in debt?
Please Ron, correct me if I misunderstood some of it.
Sue, the way I understand it is that the only cash Maven put out was to pay off HubPages' debt to its investors. Otherwise, HP is being acquired for stock which won't vest for a year. That gives the HP management and technical teams incentive to stick around and work hard to make Maven/HP successful rather than immediately jumping ship. The stock goes to HP management and (I think) employees, but not to writers, who will continue to be paid on "commission" (as we are now).
Heckman seems to be saying that HP has positive operating cash flow (it's profitable), though it did have debt to its original investors. He emphasizes that HP is standing on its own financially.
I believe the full stock options don't "vest" for three years, not just one. This was stated somewhere when all of this first started, but cannot remember if it was on the forums or in a magazine article or both.
"Focus is on how the 35 million unique visitors HP contributes brings the scale needed to maximize ad revenue."
That's what worries me about the Maven takeover. It sounds as though the Maven network wasn't growing as fast as he hoped, so James Heckman looked around for something to give an immediate boost to the numbers for a fast fix.
Remember that Maven is a very new company. There hasn't been a lot of time yet for "growth".
Yes, change is always a little scary, and big change is even scarier, but we have to trudge forward and see what will be.
Some great info in there. Even if growth seemed slow at the start for Maven, the combination of the two might see quite an uptick, which is probably what they're after. Interesting times.
I'm pretty sure, we the writer's are considered "publishers" when it comes to publishing our articles on Hubpages or Maven. We are also considered "content creators". So, I believe they have us covered in this.
@HoneyBB
No, we are not publishers. We (the writers) are content creators. A few of us (very, very few) may be invited by Maven to create their own channel and become a Maven publisher.
Here's what I got.
1. Longwinded recording that could have been over in 3 words or less.
2. They attended the second biggest advertising market convention in order to get new advertising clients, and they were able to offer an excellent platform to advertisers because a) social networks have a lot of scams so advertisers were not getting good value for money b) Hubpages writers were world class and no writer was accepted on board without extensive interviewing, etc. They were all handpicked and there were 6000 of them. So advertisers have brilliant copy on which to post their adverts.
3. None of hubpage writers were paid as they write on commission, and therefore there is no cost to the company. They get 'free' writers.
4. Maven did not outlay any cash for Hubpages plus gave it goals that needed to be reached. So, hubpage staff did not jump ship and leave Maven without the expertise that hp has developed and Maven is not weaker financiallly.
5. Forgotten another point. Will come back and insert it when I remember what it was!
[Thumbs up sign!]
The other point they forgot to mention is that they don't own any of the content creators / copyright owners, any of whom can walk - with their content and their audience/traffic they generate - any time they like.
There again it's not customary to highlight the downsides to your business model to your investors or future income generators.
Sounds like Maven got a pretty good deal for themselves and Paul got relieved of debt, a lot of work and worry and a also got a new job.
However, I thought the deal was not supposed to close for 90 days. It hasn't been that long yet.
Also, if monetization has already started, where's the money? All I'm hearing from other writers is that CPMs are lower than ever even though page views are up. Something is "off" here.
My CPMs have been substantially up - between 200% and 600% ever since Paul announced that they were trying a new formula. That's been since December, I think.
My traffic is way down since December, but that's normal for January.
The only reason I'm hanging in there is because my CPMs are so good.
I certainly don't see CPM's "lower than ever". They dropped after the Xmas season, compared to the last quarter of '17, but remained well above January of last year, and are beginning to climb once more.
by Sally Gulbrandsen 2 years ago
Will they still be allowed to continue writing for the niche sites or will this site be diluted as our best writers and their work leave for a better deal?
by Samantha Cubbison 4 months ago
Exciting news! Engineers have been extremely busy over the last few months consolidating technology at Maven and taking the first steps toward moving HubPages sites to a centralized Maven platform, which readers and advertisers love. We are thrilled to announce that TatRing (scheduled to go live on...
by MomsTreasureChest 2 years ago
Maven bought HubPages, the Good News?Bueller? Bueller?Can you see the good in it for you the Hubber? Article about the good things for the Owners of HubPages: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/06/hubpage … years.htmlHubpages article on the good things for...
by Paul Edmondson 2 years ago
Hubbers, feel free to jump over to the blog to learn a bit about our future. This is an opportunity for us to offer better technology, more earnings, and expand on what we do best together.https://blog.hubpages.com/2018/01/05/hu … aut-maven/
by Will Apse 7 months ago
We are the thin yellow line, lol. That seems to disappear.https://www.thestreet.com/investing/mav … e-for-2020
by Mutiny92 9 years ago
HP before Panda was a great community, a wonderful place with wonderful writers. After Panda, the dynamics have changed. We still have great writers, but folks aren't publishing as much.So, if you were a HP decision-maker, what would YOU do to reinvigorate the community and the site?
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