This female CEO is reshaping the news for Generation Z
KindredCast is proud to have hosted many extraordinary women executives who are driving innovation in media and tech. This week, we sat down with Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc, who joined the Canadian powerhouse after serving as the president and CEO of A&E Networks.
Ushering in record-setting ratings, awards, and acclaim with blockbuster A&E programs like Pawn Stars, Dance Moms, and Duck Dynasty, Nancy spoke directly to the heart of Middle America. Now, she’s curating cutting-edge content for millennial and Gen Z viewers from one of the hippest offices in Brooklyn.
Last month marked one year since Nancy took the helm at Vice. Here are just a few things we learned while catching up with Nancy:
1. Impressions don’t impress Nancy much.
Digital advertising may rule the rest of the world, but it accounts for only 25% of Vice’s overall revenue. In an overcrowded media landscape, Vice emphasizes engagement over scale. “I don’t wanna see us chasing the clickbait and the three second video views,” Nancy said. “Our average length of tune on digital video is upwards of six minutes in length. That’s pretty long, and if you look at that against many of our competitors, it’s much, much longer than many.”
For those who are watching closely the global shifts caused by “the attention economy,” Vice’s commitment to high-quality long-form content can feel like a breath of fresh air. “We’ve always played in the premium content game, from the beginning,” Nancy said. “So, everything that we’ve done digitally on YouTube, everything that we’ve been able to do has had a premium patina to it.”
2. Vice is redefining news for the young viewer.
Nancy knows that Gen Z and millennials are very interested in engaging with the news, but remarked on how the industry is still serving the Baby Boomer generation. “You would think after we got rid of the anchor behind the desk that everybody would’ve followed,” Nancy said. Groundbreaking programs like Vice News Tonight are among the first premium news shows tailored to young people and their viewing habits.
But at Vice, nothing is one-size-fits-all. Nancy attributes a large part of Vice’s success to creating content that is diversified across many platforms. What makes sense for HBO might not make sense for Vice Magazine. In ode to aging down, Nancy hinted at some big developments on very youth-oriented platforms. “It’s a little soon to tell you specifics around what that content is, but you’ll see us very focused on what’s happening on Snap,” Nancy said. “You’ll see us increasingly focused on what’s happening on YouTube, but those two platforms have been our biggest growth areas this year in ’18, and I think will continue to be in ‘19.”
3. Nancy needs three types of executives to make a company successful.
As the daughter of a successful female business owner, Nancy learned how to be confident and call the shots very early in life. However, she never lets ego get in the way of getting the job done. “You know, a CEO is a generalist,” Nancy said. “A CEO really just needs to have the ability to ask the right questions, and the intuition to know when things are going in the wrong direction. And also, to be a catalyst for collaboration and creativity.”
In hiring the best CFO, the best strategists, the best lawyers, and other staffers, Nancy looks for three types of people: thinkers, feelers, and doers.
Which one is Nancy? Find out on Episode 52 of KindredCast, embedded below or available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
