Meet Ignaz Van Hasselt, a seasoned professional working as of Director of Analytics at Mather Economics. Boasting over a decade of experience in the media industry, Ignaz brings his expertise to our team thanks to his proficiency in various aspects of analytics, including pricing strategies, digital transformation, and comprehensive yield management. We invite you to read this interesting interview to learn more about Ignaz and how his career experience is helping Mather establish itself in the European market.
Can you share a bit about your role and what a typical day looks like for you?
IVH: I am the EU Analytics Director, based in Amsterdam. In short, my main job is to help European publishers maximize their revenue so they can reinvest that into independent journalism. This is a quite broad job ranging from helping with their pricing strategies to maximize reader revenue, setting up paywalls and premium strategies to balance between subscriber growth, advertising revenue, and reach, and also guiding digital transformations of the newsroom. I assist them in defining which content they need to produce and optimizing their publication strategy across their platforms. Being active on so many fronts makes not a single day the same, which is exactly what I like!
What attracted you to work in Mather?
IVH: The opportunity to work with real domain experts with lots of experience in their field is a huge learning opportunity for me. Also, with Sophi now on board, I have the capability to productize and automate a lot of my work, so we can scale it to many other publishers.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the media industry?
IVH: I studied Biology and Ecology. Truth be told, my first job in media was just a coincidence. But apparently, I liked it. For me, it has a lot of parallels with what I studied. I always look at everything from an ecosystem perspective, where everything is connected. This is actually the same in media. Even though we came from a very siloed era, treating our reader as different persons in different departments like editorial, B2C, and B2B, it is actually one single person with a need.
What is one achievement you’ve reached within the company that you’re proud of?
IVH: Being able to provide value within a day by inspiring publishers with my previous work and way of working, I paint a clear picture for them of what should be their next steps.
How do you prioritize work-life balance, and what activities do you enjoy outside of the workplace?
IVH: To be honest, this is quite hard to do with a young family. But luckily, I get a lot of freedom to determine my own agenda. Sport helps a lot in maintaining a healthy balance. Currently, I am engaging in a variety of activities as I am training for an Ironman. I am very results-driven and need goals to work towards.
Are there any industry conferences or events you look forward to attending for networking and learning?
IVH: I’m looking forward to the Mather Symposium 2024, where I will be one of the speakers and panel members. I also look forward to the INMA event in London, mainly to connect with all my European clients.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self when starting in this industry, what would it be?
IVH: Trust your gut!
Ignaz Van Hasselt works as a Director, Analytics at Mather Economics Europe. To get in touch with him, please email: ignaz.vanhasselt@mathereconomics.com
