We were pleased to welcome Jason Binn (in the process of launching his new Chicago magazine - Michigan Avenue in September)and Susanna Homan for a quick tour of Flashpoint Academy. Hopefully we will see a lot more of both of them as the launch date draws nearer.
Here's some interesting background on the development and growth of Jason's media businesses.
Jason Binn, CEO, founded Niche Media in 1998. Since its inception, Binn has successfully built an empire that has cornered the regional publishing market with the country’s preeminent titles including Aspen Peak, Gotham, Hamptons, Los Angeles Confidential, and launching in September 2005, Boston Common and Capitol File. Binn is also a co-founder (with Jerry Powers) of Ocean Drive magazine. Ocean Drive is published by Sobe News, Inc., which is managed by Jerry Powers and of which Jason Binn is a shareholder. Although independent companies with separate management and sales teams, both Niche and Sobe have successfully validated the concept of the controlled circulation publication as a highly prized commodity in the eyes of consumers and advertisers.
Binn’s strategic model pairs his exceptional business sense with an unparalleled arsenal of personal contacts including some of the most recognizable names in business, arts, entertainment, politics, music, etc., allowing Niche Media to publish oversized, glossy, city-centric publications written from an insiders perspective. With access to the most influential, wealthy readers, Niche attracts the most prestigious brands in the world to partner in advertising and sponsorship. As a result of Binn and his team’s highly cultivated relationships with their clients, coupled with the growing popularity of the titles, advertisers aggressively seek out more and more opportunities within the books and continue to increase their number pages on a regular basis.
Binn began his foray into publishing in 1993. With the foresight to enter the burgeoning Miami market, Jason Binn launched Ocean Drive with partner, Jerry Powers, on a shoestring budget with only eighty pages. The magazine quickly became a media sensation and today has worldwide distribution, often maxing out at over four hundred pages.
Following that, Binn parlayed his success in another niche market where he began publishing the then twenty-year-old Hamptons magazine (1998.) Mirroring the success of Ocean Drive, Binn recreated the magazine to reflect the mindset of New York's jet setters, boosting ad revenues and book sizes to an average of 200 pages weekly during the 16 week summer season. Hamptons served as the springboard for Binn's Gotham magazine (2001) which has lived up to its incredible expectations, allowing Binn to lay claim to other coveted markets, Los Angeles with Los Angeles Confidential (2002), Aspen with Aspen Peak (2004), Boston with Boston Common (2005) and Washington DC with Capitol File (2005).
Jason Binn graduated from Boston University in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He and his wife Haley Lieberman Binn split their time between their New York, Los Angeles and Southampton homes.
