Dotdash Meredith hires president to expand ad tech division D/Cipher
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Dotdash Meredith, one of the biggest digital media publishers in America, has hired Jim Lawson to lead its ad tech division D/Cipher, Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel told Axios.
Why it matters: The hire coincides with the expansion of D/Cipher from an internal tool used to help Dotdash Meredith's advertisers target ads across its sites to an external tool that can help any advertiser better target their ads across the open web.
- Lawson was previously CEO of the publicly traded ad tech firm AdTheorent.
How it works: Launched in 2023, D/Cipher was created to help Dotdash Meredith's clients target ads across its 40+ digital brands more accurately using context to predict consumer behavior, rather than privacy-invasive tracking cookies.
- Today, D/Cipher targeting is used in a majority of the company's premium ad deals, Vogel said.
Zoom in: The effectiveness of the tool inspired the publisher to expand D/Cipher's targeting solutions and make them available to any advertiser, even if those ads don't run on Dotdash Meredith's properties.
- That expanded capability, called D/Cipher+, will be sold as a managed service to advertisers, expanding Dotdash Meredith's business to a new revenue stream outside of advertising, licensing and subscriptions.
Between the lines: Lawson, who will report to Vogel starting this week, will oversee D/Cipher's expansion. In an interview, he called Dotdash Meredith's ability to translate the signals from billions of user impressions across its sites to high-performing media campaigns across the premium open web "unrivaled" by any other ad tech offering today.
- The tech propelling D/Cipher+ was enhanced by Dotdash Meredith's partnership with OpenAI, which was announced last year.
Zoom out: Vogel felt confident expanding D/Cipher because of how well it's performed for Dotdash Meredith over the past two years and because of the publisher's unique scale, which makes the tool more effective.
- "Our signal is so much better. We've got 30 million users a day on the best brands ever. We know exactly what people want. He [Lawson] is going to help us turn this into what we think is going to be an amazing way to target the open web," Vogel said.
- Digital revenue for Dotdash Meredith in 2024 crossed $1 billion for the first time since Dotdash and Meredith merged in 2021. Its revenue has experienced double-digit digital growth every quarter since Q4 2023.
What to watch: For now, Dotdash Meredith will focus the targeting solutions offered as part of D/Cipher+ on reaching customers across the types of content that Dotdash Meredith excels at, such as intent-driven lifestyle content. Ultimately, Lawson said, the total addressable market for D/Cipher+ is really the size of the entire open internet advertising business.
