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Jerusha Raath, Publisher at News24, Media24, doesn’t shy away from challenges. In fact, she embraces them.
Speaking ahead of her session at Branded Content Days 2025 in New York, she describes the recent upheaval in South Africa’s media landscape—not as a crisis, but as an opportunity.
“I think that South Africa has a lot to teach the world,” Raath says. “Because of our challenges, we are extremely resilient, and we have figured out ways to come up with solutions that I think might really surprise our colleagues.”
With Media24 navigating a shifting industry landscape—including the closure of its newspapers and the emergence of a coalition government for the first time in South Africa’s democratic history—Raath and her team have taken a bold approach to diversifying revenue streams. At the heart of this transformation? Branded Content.
A new revenue mix for a changing industry
Since 2020, Media24’s revenue mix has been built on advertising and subscriptions. But when print revenue disappeared at the end of 2024, the company had to rethink its entire commercial strategy.
“We had our print revenue pulled from the business,” Raath explains, “and then we were faced with an interesting and exciting opportunity. How can we transfer that print revenue digitally?”
The answer was to integrate branded content into an even broader strategy—one that included events and awards.
Media24 quickly launched initiatives such as a summit on the future of the country and breakfast events around the national budget.
“We realized that we needed to have events because the country is desperate to talk about the future,” she says. “But our commercial partners also want to be a part of that conversation.”
The results have been remarkable. Today, Branded Content accounts for 20% of advertising revenue—with diverse revenue continuing to grow.
“I am so, so proud of that,” Raath says. “We’ve worked many years to equip our salespeople to get that right.”
A fully integrated team for Branded Content success
One of the biggest wins for Media24 has been its ability to break down silos and create a cross-functional team dedicated to diverse revenue.
“In the past, if we were still operating in a world where we had our newspapers and our different divisions, we wouldn’t have been able to execute so quickly,” Raath explains. “But when we realized that we needed to focus on diverse revenue, we pulled together a fully cross-functional team from all across the business.”
The result? A mix of expertise from lifestyle and magazine divisions—teams that had never worked on news brands before—working side by side with the hard-hitting news teams.
“I think I gave them an ulcer when I introduced them to the crazy world of news,” she jokes. “But they brought a level of sophistication that us news people would never have thought of.”
Learning from mistakes and embracing agility
Media24’s rapid shift to diverse revenue streams hasn’t been without challenges. One of the biggest lessons Raath’s team learned was that events—and diverse revenue in general—can’t be treated as linear or predictable.
“We treated the national budget breakfast as a sure thing,” she recalls. “What could possibly go wrong? And then, the day before the speech was supposed to be announced, the coalition government had a massive disagreement and postponed it.”
Instead of letting the event become a disaster, the team pivoted. The food meant for the breakfast was donated to charity and the event was quickly rescheduled.
“My lesson there was that diverse revenue is all about agility,” Raath says. “Anything can happen at any time. You have to prepare for it.”
The future of Branded Content at Media24
Branded content has become integral to Media24’s strategy—not just as an advertising product, but as a core part of how the company operates.
“We don’t sell advertising, we sell stories,” Raath says. “To be able to say to our clients, ‘We can give you what our newsroom gives the country,’ is the most impactful thing that we can do.”
Looking ahead, she sees even greater potential. “I’d like to push towards a 30% revenue contribution from branded content,” she says. “I think branded content is more sustainable and more impactful. It gives our advertising partners more value than traditional display.”
One of the most intriguing ideas Raath is exploring is blending branded content with reader revenue.
“What if we created a short course that is completely branded? A masterclass where a client pays for a premium audience?” she muses. “Or an AI finance chatbot sponsored by a financial services company?”
These aren’t just theoretical questions—Raath is keen to experiment and find out what works.
“We would have to prime our clients to change their success metrics,” she says. “Because we wouldn’t be giving them scale and mass reach, but we would be giving them something much more valuable—an actual lead.”
With thought leaders like Jerusha Raath driving the conversation, Branded Content Days 2025 promises to be a must-attend event for anyone serious about the future of branded content and revenue generation.
Want to hear more? Join Jerusha Raath at Branded Content Days 2025 in New York City.
