Ziff Davis, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media and internet company in the United States and internationally. It offers online resources for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news, buying guides, and research papers under the PCMag and CNET brands; Mashable for publishing technology and culture content; Spiceworks provides digital content of IT products and services; RetailMeNot, a …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Consistently Above PeersGross margin at 85.8% (top 3%) and operating margin at 12.6% (top 11%) indicate strong pricing power.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.94), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Ziff Davis, Inc. ranks #6 of 45
scored companies in Advertising Agencies by moat score — the top 13%.
The widest moat in the group is Glory Star New Media Group Hold (GSMGW)
at 83/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near ZD in Advertising Agencies
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 60
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 84
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 52
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 60
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 76
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Ziff Davis, Inc. (ZD) scores 71 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #6 of 45 scored companies in Advertising Agencies, the top 13%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 44 companies in Advertising Agencies. Its strongest defense is Pricing Power (94/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (52/100).
How does Ziff Davis, Inc. compare with other Advertising Agencies companies?
Ziff Davis, Inc. ranks #6 of 45 scored companies in Advertising Agencies by moat score. The widest moat in Advertising Agencies is Glory Star New Media Group Hold (GSMGW) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, (CCO) at 75 just above it and Magnite, Inc. (MGNI) at 69 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 44 companies in Advertising Agencies. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Ziff Davis, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Ziff Davis, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and ZD scores: Pricing Power (94), Cost Advantage (60), Customer Stickiness (84), Capital Efficiency (52), Resilience (60), Scale & Market Position (76). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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