gawker media
DESCRIPTION
Overview of where Gawker stood in 2007, and a historical analysis of blogs more generally.TRANSCRIPT
Agenda• Timeline • Titles• Stats
– Uniques– Pageviews– Commenter Traffic– Audience Demographics
• Blogging Industry• Gawker Media
– Nick Denton– Gawker’s Business Model– Key Revenue (Advertising) and Expenses (Compensation)
• A Questionable Future
02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Launched
Sold
Less than $50K revenue
Gawker Content Media Productions created to serve Nike
3 Managing Editors quit, at gawker.com, Nick Denton steps in
Readers post 485,393 comments across 15 sites in February
Gawker Media
Timeline
Comments enabled
SIZE
20 MM Uniques (Quantcast)
12 Titles
200 Contributors
AUDIENCE
Core: Adults 18-34
Age adjusted affluent
Educated
Influential
• GAWKER GEEK: Focus on technology and
consumption
• GAWKER CHIC: Lifestyle and Entertainment
coverage told in narrative style
Quick Look: Gawker Geek vs. Gawker Chic
350 stories per week
100 stories per week
300 stories per week
Nielsen’s Gawker.com Unique Visitors
Recent Unique Visitors
2007 Monthly Unique Visitors
Historical Pageviews
Recent Pageviews
Historical Commenter Traffic
Recent Commenter Traffic
Age Demographics
Gender Demographics
Education Demographics
Income Demographics
Geography
9.6%
49.1%14.9%
25.6%
Mid WestNortheastSouthWest
Blogging History1994: Justin Hall creates first blog, Links.net1997: Jorn Barger coins term Weblog1999: Blogger launches first free blog-creation service2000: Boing Boing launches2002: Gakwer Media launches2003: Google launches AdSense, matching ads to blog
content2004: 32 million Americans read blogs2005: Huffington Post launches $100 million worth of blog ads sold online2006 Matt Drudge listed as one of Times 100 Most
Influential People2008: 115 million active blogs
The Long Tail of Blogging
3 Blog Business ModelsLone Writer
Example: Talking Points Memo
Known for breaking news of Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott’s racially charged comments. Audience surged to 40,000 daily. Grosses in the low six figures. 3 full time staffers. Daily traffic is 150,000 page views, charges advertisers $5 CPM
Record Label
Example: Weblogs, Inc.
Known for high quantity (90 blogs created), low quality. Sold to AOL for $25 million in 2006
Boutique
Example: Gawker Media
Known for crafting blogs carefully aimed at a deluxe niche readership.
Nick Denton
“Blogs are likely to be better for readers than for capitalists.” (2006, NYMag)
“I always thought that you needed to know the code for finding out what was actually going on when you read mainstream publications. We just say it. It is supposed to be the conversation that occurs between reporters at the bar after they have finished their stories.” (2006, NYT)
“On the rare occasions I ponder my legacy, I think I should set up gossip sites to cover countries like Russia and China. To foment revolution, with a drip-drip of snarky stories about corruption.” (2008, Wired)
Earned degree in economics and politics from Oxford University
Sold 2 tech companies for $50MM in 1999
“He’s polite, quiet, and relentlessly confident, an effective poised leader whose true nature is amoral recklessness, an unrufflable libertarian and libertine.” (2006, NYMag)
Gawker Media Business ModelExpenses: Compensation: $7 million 139 employees (40 FT editors + 40 FT tech and admin + 59
freelance) 80 full time x $70,000/year each + $400,000 in traffic based
bonuses + 59 freelancers x $17,000/year each Overhead: $500,000
$10,000 webhosting x 12 titles + $120,000 rent + $260,000 advertising
Revenue 30 million page views x 4 units x $30/page ratecard x 60% sold x 15%
discount x 10% bulk discount x 15% commission = $20 million
Profit ~$10-$12 million into Nick Denton’s pocket
Standard Media Offerings
Skyscraper: 160x600Expands: RightTo 500x600
Splashbox: 300x250Expands: Down/LeftTo 500x500
Interrupter: 728x90Expands: Up/DownTo 728x500
Advertising Rates
• $10 per 1,000 pageviews
• Discount rates up to 70% for buys of $100K+
• Also offers Custom Skins, Content Generation, Contests, Polls, Branding Studies
Staff “You need a talented writer entertaining enough to hold an audience, a
consistent publishing schedule, content worth linking to by other bloggers and worthy of press coverage, marketing savvy to sell advertising, and plenty of traffic.” –Wired Magazine, 2005
Work from home or the “office”
Constant contact through instant messenger
Required to join Facebook group
Under contract to post 12 times a day for $3,000/month or $6.50-$9.75 per 1,000 pageviews from fixed pot of “editorial bonuses”
Primarily in their 20 and 30s already affiliated with the arts&culture world
Gawker.com:
3 Editors
4 Reporters
15 Freelancers
100 Commenters
Product“They didn’t exactly invent the blog, but the tone they used for Gawker became the most important stylistic influence on the emerging field of blogging and has turned into the de facto voice of blogs today.” –New York Magazine, 2007
“Right now, we don’t have enough inventory for people who are trying to reach young males. The idea was to come up with sites that would interest them.” –Nick Denton, 2004
“It's no longer enough to take stories from the New York Times, and add a dash of snark. Gawker needs to break and develop more stories. And the new managing editor will need to hire and manage reporters, as well as bloggers. Think of Gawker less as a blog than as a full-blown news site. A feel for the tone of the internet, and the particular obsessions of the internet audience, is necessary. But print reporters and editors, with traditional newsgathering skills, should not rule themselves out. Newspapers provide no long-term job security; this is the chance to make the leap over into online journalism.” –Gawker.com website, 2007
Recent Job DescriptionBlogs such as Gawker won't be running 5,000-word-long features any time soon, nor giving writers
weeks to investigate. But the web—other blogs, search engines and social network sites—increasingly rewards original items. So we're looking for an additional reporter for the team.
At its most basic, the reporting may at times be little more than value-added blogging: a story in the news, put in context with a quick Nexis search, and deconstructed. At its most elevated, the new Gawker hire may experiment with a new form of reporting, unique to online, in which ideas are floated, appeals made to the readers, and the story assembled over the course of several items, from speculation, and tips from users. Here's the kind of person suited to the position.
• At least two years of experience as a reporter at a daily or weekly newspaper, covering either crime news, business, or media and culture (yes, a print background is an advantage).
• Ability to write five short items a day, some one-offs, some to further an ongoing campaign or investigation.
• A reporter who appreciates the discipline of newspaper traditions, but chafes under them.
• A natural gossip who loves the story and, even more, the story behind the story.
• familiarity with blogging software, RSS readers and graphics editing tools a big plus.
You may have heard that blogs don't pay; that's no longer the case. Short letter explaining why you're suited, with links to articles online, by December 19, to Noah Robischon with the subject line: Reporter.
Competition“Blogging is increasingly becoming a survival of the fittest—and that all boils down to who has the best content. The blogs that are going to stand out are the ones who break news and have credibility.”
–Elizabeth Spiers, first gawker.com writer (2007)
Technorati lists the top 10 blogs as1. Huffington Post2. Tech Crunch3. Engadget (Weblogs, Inc)4. Gizmodo 5. Boing Boing (5 former Wired editors)6. Lifehacker7. Ars Technica8. Mashable9. Icanhascheezburger10. Daily Kos
The FutureChallengesRecession could decrease online advertising spending
Shortage of talented programmers could slow speed of development
Tech bubble 2.0 could/will bust
OpportunitiesBlogging becomes professionalized as an industry
More news content could begin online, thereby increasing ad revenue
Linking/search software changes to preference blogs
Value of media design/content generation/audience metrics increases
OtherNick Denton could get bored and sell all of Gawker Media
Questions?