The Web Log King
By David
Fishman
Gawker
Media maybe the most expansive web log
conglomerate of the small web log
environment. It boasts a portfolio of nine
internet sites that comprise Denton's Gawker
Media company. Collectively and
individually, they have become daily reading
for New York media types, LA film people,
Washington political junkies, computer
gamers, gear-heads and gadget freaks as well
as "enthusiasts" of pornography.
https://www.lynxtrack.com/signup.php
Denton, a
British former Financial Times
journalist, has defined a weblog as, "Weblogs
are just websites that happen to be arranged
in reverse chronological order," the
36-year-old Denton explained to the
Independent this month.
Denton's nine
weblogs, which boast such names as Kotaku,
Jalopnik, Screenhead, Wonkette and Gizmodo,
have all been set in the past two years. In
this short space of time, the collective of
Gawker sites is now probably second only to
Matt Drudge in terms of recognition and online
traffic.
Last summer,
Fortune magazine called Gawker Media
"an empire of the fledgling weblog industry".
Denton's blogs, it noted, were "deliciously
wicked". Business Week flattered that
Gawker's blogs are "irresistible to the
chattering classes - media, power, sex, and
toys... Denton is skimming off the demographic
cream - the influential chatterati".
The formula
behind the Gawker empire, is the idea that you
find something people are passionate about and
create more content around the concept, idea,
etc…then anyone thought possible.
This formula
is not far removed from that of consumer
magazines, and Denton knows that adherents of
media gossip, pornography, computer games and
so on are more or less insatiable. To make
weblogs work one must simply provide the drug
since most people have an insastiable appetite
for gossip, technology information, or
entertainment news.
With a single
editor and a number of web-surfing,
chore-running interns, Gawker sites are
constantly being updated. In Washington DC,
people read the politically oriented Wonkette;
in L.A, the celebrity dirt of Defamer. Fans of
pornography are drawn to Fleshbot; Screenhead
is online entertainment for guys who are too
lazy to watch television; computer gamers go
to Kotaku; car drivers, to Jalopnik, and so
on.
Denton has
done a great job of getting eyeballs with a
chance to influence them. How will he turn
this into a profitable program?
Like many
internet companies, Gawker Media doesn't like
to talk financials. It's unlikely there's much
to talk about, anyway. Although $7bn was spent
on internet advertising last year, very little
of it currently goes to the fledgling weblog
industry.
Still, there
is reason for optimism, and Denton likes to
point out that even at 2.5 million unique
visitors per month, his sites are only just
starting to get to a place where media buyers
will notice them. And corporations, eager to
win the attention of so-called "opinion
makers", are calling. Along with the Audi
deal, Nike recently hired Denton to create a
custom site for the company under the Gawker
brand called Art of Speed. Indeed, the kind of
customer Gawker sites reach - 59 percent in
the 18-34 age bracket, 75 percent male –
should be honey to advertisers.
Sooner or
later, money will be made. Denton intends to
be there when that happens, but until then he
will be taking longer lunches. The weblog
space will only grow and advertisers will
start paying attention to using this media to
direct consumers in there buying more and more
as time goes on.
David Fishman
dfishman@wrpmedia.com
