The inbox is the new homepage, says Quartz head of ad sales

Simon Davies, head of advertising sales at Quartz, UK, told attendees today at FIPP’s Innovation Forum in London that no matter how involved in other things (online, social) global executives are, “the inbox is their homepage.”
This bodes well for Quartz, who has spent time and money crafting its email newsletter. “It’s very lucrative,” said Davies, continuing, “60 per cent of global executives read an email newsletter every day,” citing the stat from recent research the company undertook.
The Quartz Daily Brief contains “carefully curated” stories from everywhere on the web, not just qz.com, and is distinct and friendly – “like a smart, knowledgeable friend telling you what’s going on in the world,” said Davies. 
“Don’t patronise your reader,” continued Davies, “they know there’s a big wide world of content out there, but they are trusting you to deliver them the most important stories of the day.” The digestible format of the newsletter lends itself well to this, and, in turn, to Quartz’s audience.
So how successful is it? According to Davies, half of the newsletter’s 77,000 (and growing) subscribers open on a mobile device, and it achieves a 40-50 per cent open rate, “consistently”.
And how does it make money? A simple sponsorship model allows clients to have a small native ad within the body of the newsletter, which is clearly labelled, with a company logo at the top. “In terms of ROI,” said Davies, “it’s the most lucrative thing we have.”

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