The Hill, the publication of record for policy influencers inside and outside Washington, has named Neetzan Zimmerman as senior director, audience and strategy.
Zimmerman, who will expand the publication’s reach into new demographics, starts today and reports to Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack.
“Neetzan understands the digital world like no one else,” said Cusack. “His ability to use powerful content to build audiences and drive engagement will be a major asset to The Hill, especially with readers hungry for high-quality political reporting that can fuel conversations on their social platforms.”
The hiring of Zimmerman comes amid significant growth at The Hill, which provides the leading non-partisan political coverage of cybersecurity, defense, energy and environment, finance, healthcare, technology, transportation and international affairs. Web traffic has recently skyrocketed at TheHill.com, with the number of U.S. desktop visitors growing 71.5% from December, 2013 to December, 2014, according to comScore.
“With unique, original and powerful coverage of topics of critical importance, The Hill is perfectly positioned to continue reaching new heights with its digital audiences,” Zimmerman said. “Being able to apply my passion for digital growth to content of this caliber is an amazing opportunity.”
Zimmerman is one of media’s foremost experts in viral content and digital audience development. As senior editor at Gawker, Zimmerman’s posts were responsible for driving more than 30 million page views a month, prompting The Wall Street Journal to call him “the most popular blogger working on the web today.” New York magazine similarly described Zimmerman as a “blogging savant” and “one-man viral treasure chest.” In 2014, Zimmerman was tapped to lead editorial operations for messaging platform Whisper.
According to a 2014 Erdos & Morgan readership survey, The Hill has the most relevant and valuable congressional coverage, the most reliable reporting and is preferred overall for congressional news coverage. In 2013, New York magazine found The Hill’s Twitter handle, @TheHill, to be the most followed Twitter account by members of Congress.
The Hill is published by Capitol Hill Publishing Corp, a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc., Chairman, James A. Finkelstein.
