NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Edward Felsenthal has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of TIME, effective immediately, it was announced today by Rich Battista, President and CEO of Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME), and Alan Murray, Chief Content Officer.
Felsenthal, the 18th editor to lead TIME since it was founded in 1923, oversees one of the world’s largest news brands, with a total reach of more than 100 million. Felsenthal, 51, succeeds Nancy Gibbs, who stepped down from the role on Tuesday.
As TIME’s Digital Editor since 2013, Felsenthal led a major expansion of TIME’s global digital footprint, including establishing an integrated 24/7 news and video operation. In the past four years during his tenure, TIME’s overall audience has more than doubled, and nearly 40% of TIME.com’s audience are millennials. In 2016 he was named to the additional role of Digital Director of Time Inc.’s News and Lifestyle groups, leading content and growth across more than a dozen brands, including TIME, FORTUNE, MONEY, HEALTH, SOUTHERN LIVING, TRAVEL + LEISURE and FOOD & WINE.
“One of the hallmarks of TIME is its nearly 100-year commitment to high-quality, trusted journalism, and handing the reins to an accomplished, well-respected journalist like Edward ensures TIME’s continued commitment to that high standard,” said Battista. “With his proven talent and record for driving significant digital and video growth for TIME and more than a dozen brands across our portfolio, Edward has demonstrated that he is also an entrepreneurial, innovative talent and the perfect person to lead TIME’s continuing expansion across all platforms, reaching new audiences while upholding the trusted journalism that has defined the brand.”
“I couldn’t be prouder of the tremendous transformation the TIME team has made over the past four years, telling the stories of our time in entirely new ways with integrity and passion,” said Felsenthal. “Our iconic covers have proved to be more relevant than ever, and I am honored to lead this trusted brand into the future. Nancy Gibbs welcomed me as a partner in TIME’s mission from the day I arrived, and I am grateful for her friendship and stewardship of the brand.”
“Edward has the perfect skills and experience to lead TIME into its next, exciting era. He has impeccable credentials as a journalist, he has proved his chops in both print and digital, and he has demonstrated his ability to provide TIME’s unique and powerful form of storytelling to audiences on whatever platform they choose. There is no better choice to lead TIME through the next phase of its transformation,” said Murray.
TIME.com reached a record-breaking 60 million unique visitors worldwide in August 2017— a 37% year-over-year increase (Google Analytics) and the most traffic for any month in its history. The site also had more than 20 million on-site streams (Brightcove) that month. TIME has extended its total social reach to more than 50 million since Felsenthal joined TIME, which is five times the reach when he started. TIME also has one of the largest audiences of any news brand on Instagram, with approximately 4 million followers and approximately 20 million streams in July and August—a record for TIME’s feed.
TIME’s video production increased tenfold in the past four years across TIME.com. The brand has also been successful on Instagram video and in long-form programming. “A Year in Space” is an example of a hugely successful multi-platform project that has made an impact over the course of more than two years; it has been nominated for two Emmys—a 2016 Primetime Emmy for TIME.com’s original digital series and a 2017 News & Documentary Emmy for an adapted hour-long special that aired on PBS. The second part of the PBS documentary will debut later this year. TIME also recently produced a documentary for Netflix, “The Mars Generation,” of which Felsenthal was an Executive Producer.
Last fall Felsenthal helped implement a new digital structure for Time Inc., launching multiple digital hubs across the company, with its titles collaborating to share content and enlarge the digital audience. Time Inc. quickly saw the rewards of these efforts, becoming one of the top 10 online media properties with the largest digital audiences in December 2016 (comScore). At TIME.com he oversaw the launch of several verticals, newsletters and digital franchises. For instance, with Felsenthal’s guidance, TIME launched Motto, a site aimed at millennial women, and TIME Labs, a data-driven interactive vertical that continues to host some of the most trafficked stories in TIME’s history. Felsenthal also helped introduce Time Inc.’s virtual reality enterprise, LIFE VR, and TIME’s new e-commerce vertical THE GOODS, and he significantly expanded TIME.com’s Ideas vertical, which publishes work by more than 1,000 outside contributors each year.
Before joining Time Inc., Felsenthal helped launch The Daily Beast in 2008 as its founding Executive Editor, a role in which he built a digital newsroom that grew quickly from a start-up to a nationally recognized brand with millions of monthly unique users. Prior to that, he was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal for 15 years. He was named Deputy Managing Editor in 2005 and, was the founding editor of Personal Journal, where he guided health coverage that led to two Pulitzer Prizes, and oversaw news strategy, driving integration of the digital and print teams. He also covered the US Supreme Court in the Journal’s Washington Bureau.
Felsenthal is on the board of the American Society of Magazine Editors, serves on the advisory board of the NYU Center for Publishing and is a senior fellow at the Edward R. Murrow Center at the Tufts Fletcher School. A graduate of Princeton University, he earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School as well as a master’s in Law and Diplomacy from the Tufts Fletcher School.
ABOUT TIME INC.
Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is a leading multi-platform consumer media company that engages over 170 million consumers globally every month. The company’s influential brands include PEOPLE, TIME, FORTUNE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, INSTYLE, REAL SIMPLE, SOUTHERN LIVING and TRAVEL + LEISURE, as well as approximately 60 diverse international brands. Time Inc. offers marketers a differentiated proposition in the marketplace by combining its powerful brands, trusted content, audience scale, direct relationships with consumers and unique first-party data. The company is home to growing media and platforms, including digital video, OTT, television, licensing, paid products and services and celebrated live events, such as the TIME 100, FORTUNE Most Powerful Women, PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Sportsperson of the Year, the ESSENCE Festival and the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen.
