Adweek Acquires Social Media Week

Adweek has acquired Social Media Week (SMW) and its flagship properties, including Social Media Week Conferences, SMW News & Insights, and its recently launched streaming platform, SMW+.

Since 2009, Adweek has helped readers and community members play a pivotal role in an engaged and elevated conversation on the impact of social media on marketing, media, and culture.

Toby Daniels, who founded Social Media Week in 2009, will join Adweek as Chief Innovation Officer, while also overseeing the SMW business.

“Joining forces with Adweek represents an opportunity to work with a world-class team, accessing a full spectrum of capabilities which will not only help to extend the Social Media Week brand and offering but also help us better serve our community and our partners,” he says. “We are ecstatic to have found a home and strategic partner in Adweek, a company we have long admired for its first-class journalism and coverage of our industry, its dedication to fostering community and its events and awards, which are the gold standard in our industry.”

SMW entered unchartered territory when they went virtual in 2020 and held their first virtual conference in May with more than 10,000 attendees and 175 hours of content. The company followed this pivot with the launch of SMW+, a live and on-demand platform for marketers looking to level up their careers.

“The SMW acquisition is an important step forward in deepening our connection with these influential and rising marketers,” shares Adweek CEO Jeff Litvack. “Social media has always been a critical way for brands to reach and interact with their consumers and 2020 has further thrust it into the spotlight.”

Under Adweek, SMW will continue to expand their virtual presence beginning with #SMWNYC, kicking off May 4–7, 2021. The theme of this year’s flagship conference is “Reinvention: Rebuilding the Systems of Social Media Marketing for a Better Future” Plus, the company will continue to invest in SMW+ and are eager to share more content, shows, and series and grow the audience over the course of the year.

“In 2020, the pandemic, the rise of Black Lives Matter, and a socially distanced world reinforced the demand for real-time social engagement and the criticality of social media as a marketing platform,” adds Adweek’s Chief Content Officer Lisa Granatstein. “We’re excited to supersize our social media programming with next-level insights and best practices to help our audience continue to capitalize on these seismic consumer and marketing trends.”