Vanity Fair has never seen so much competition. From stalwarts like Variety that have been covering the entertainment industry for years, to newer startups like Puck News and Ankler Media, a joint venture founded by Richard Rushfield and Janice Min, there are perhaps more news organizations covering power and conflict in Hollywood and beyond than ever before.
Radhika Jones, editor in chief of Vanity Fair, isn’t surprised by the surge of competitors. “It’s a moment of incredible disruption and innovation…and that tends to attract interest,” she said in an interview. Jones said that she isn’t worried about the influx of new options for readers, and that Vanity Fair can differentiate itself by telling stories through imagery and photography, not just text.
That is just one of the reasons Vanity Fair has no plans to follow the path of some of its competitors and stop printing its magazine. But that’s not to say Jones, who took over as editor in chief in 2017, hasn’t focused on growing new revenue streams. Over the past year, Vanity Fair has launched its own studio as well as its commerce business and now is pushing more into video.