Semafor Is Betting Big on ‘Anti-Scale’ Video

The news organization Semafor, known in part for the distinct format of its written reporting, is now working to move more deeply into video. 

The publisher has hired Adam Banicki, the former general manager of video at Fortune Media, as its first head of video, according to cofounder and chief executive Justin Smith.

In doing so, the four-year-old news brand aims to build out a video business aimed squarely at the C-suite audiences that power the rest of its operation.

Banicki, who previously spent more than five years at The Wall Street Journal, where he last served as senior executive producer of YouTube, will oversee both the editorial and commercial sides of Semafor’s video business. He reports to chief commercial officer Rachel Oppenheim, who was promoted from chief revenue officer six months ago.

The appointment comes as publishers across the industry race to bulk up their video operations in response to declining referral traffic and shifting consumption habits. The New York Times, for one, has described its video transformation as being on par with its print-to-digital transition, its executive editor told Business Insider earlier this month.

But Semafor is pursuing a deliberately different model, one that rejects the scale-based logic that has historically driven video strategies.

“We have a lot of conversations where we are literally discussing how we can dispose of scale-based thinking,” Smith said. “You have to abandon those old tendencies and invent a new playbook, which says that not all clicks are equal.”

Growth without scale

The news comes several months after Semafor, which generated $40 million in revenue in 2025, raised $30 million at a $330 million valuation in January, according to Reuters.

Semafor declined to share updated financials, but its video revenue has grown 150% year over year and is on pace to generate high-seven- to low-eight-figure revenue by the end of 2026, according to a spokesperson.

Semafor currently produces three shows: CEO Signal, hosted by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Penny Pritzker; the media and marketing program Mixed Signals, hosted by Ben Smith and Max Tani; and the finance-focused Compound Interest with Liz Hoffman. 

As part of its push into video, the company has at least five new shows currently in development, which will vary across industry and region, according to Smith.

.newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper p:empty{ display: none !important } .newsletter-subscription-form-wrapper button br{ display: none !important }

Rather than selling pre- and mid-roll advertising, Semafor monetizes its video through long-term sponsor integrations, according to Oppenheim. Google has been embedded in Mixed Signals since its launch, while PwC sponsors CEO Signal across its video, digital, and events expressions.

The strategy mirrors the exclusivity of its editorial products. Its CEO Signal newsletter, for example, is restricted to chief executives of companies with more than $500 million in revenue. Its video offerings, while available publicly on platforms including YouTube, will cater to a similar group of decision-makers by dent of their subject matter. 

“Every media company puts resources behind audience development,” Oppenheim said. “For CEO Signal, we are doing audience defense.”

Extending events with video

The video expansion builds on the events business that generates more than half of Semafor’s revenue. 

In April, its World Economy Summit drew more than 500 CEOs, making it the largest such convening in the U.S. Next year, the company is targeting 1,000 chief executives, a gathering that would rival the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

These events are already captured on video, which is distributed across its editorial platforms, but the two formats will be more integrated going forward. Future gatherings will have dedicated studios embedded within them, for example, allowing the team to cut podcasts on-site.

The logic of the investment is sound, according to Gabriel Dorosz, an executive at the International News Media Association and founder of the consultancy Mighty Blackbird. Eroding revenue from display advertising and the collapse of the traffic-driven publishing model are pushing every publisher toward video.

“I’m not sure any publisher can be in the scale business anymore,” Dorosz said. “Semafor is not about how many, it’s about who.”

Succeeding in video requires publishers to align editorial, product, brand, marketing, and advertising, a difficult feat for historically siloed organizations, Dorosz said. That is why he considers Banicki’s dual mandate the shrewdest element of the announcement.

“The fact that they are giving Banicki ownership of the editorial and commercial strategy is the smartest part of this,” Dorosz said. “If you are free from the banner ad, what could you be free to do that you could not do before?”