The approach that built this media giant was to build websites with fast load-times and few adds. A clean site keeps readers longer, boosting its rankings in search algorithms. Ads can then be less frequent but sold at a premium, because of the readership. The company was also an early adopter of affiliate links through product reviews and articles that suggest items for purchase.

The merger of the Dotdash and Meredith teams and tech brought benefits in both directions, making Meredith sites faster and increasing story output for Dotdash. Recently, the company launched a targeting tool named D/Cipher - that makes intent-based targeting possible at scale, without cookies - showcasing that the giant is entirely able to move at the front of the tech-evolving ad media landscape.