The information group Semafor, identified partly for the distinct format of its written reporting, is now working to maneuver extra deeply into video.
The writer has employed Adam Banicki, the previous basic supervisor of video at Fortune Media, as its first head of video, in accordance with cofounder and chief government Justin Smith.
In doing so, the four-year-old information model goals to construct out a video enterprise aimed squarely on the C-suite audiences that energy the remainder of its operation.
Banicki, who beforehand spent greater than 5 years at The Wall Road Journal, the place he final served as senior government producer of YouTube, will oversee each the editorial and business sides of Semafor’s video enterprise. He stories to chief business officer Rachel Oppenheim, who was promoted from chief income officer six months in the past.
The appointment comes as publishers throughout the trade race to bulk up their video operations in response to declining referral site visitors and shifting consumption habits. The New York Instances, for one, has described its video transformation as being on par with its print-to-digital transition, its government editor informed Enterprise Insider earlier this month.
However Semafor is pursuing a intentionally totally different mannequin, one which rejects the scale-based logic that has traditionally pushed video methods.
“We’ve got numerous conversations the place we are actually discussing how we will eliminate scale-based pondering,” Smith stated. “It’s a must to abandon these previous tendencies and invent a brand new playbook, which says that not all clicks are equal.”
Progress with out scale
The information comes a number of months after Semafor, which generated $40 million in income in 2025, raised $30 million at a $330 million valuation in January, in accordance with Reuters.
Semafor declined to share up to date financials, however its video income has grown 150% 12 months over 12 months and is on tempo to generate high-seven- to low-eight-figure income by the top of 2026, in accordance with a spokesperson.
Semafor at the moment produces three exhibits: CEO Sign, hosted by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Penny Pritzker; the media and advertising and marketing program Combined Alerts, hosted by Ben Smith and Max Tani; and the finance-focused Compound Curiosity with Liz Hoffman.
As a part of its push into video, the corporate has no less than 5 new exhibits at the moment in improvement, which is able to differ throughout trade and area, in accordance with Smith.
