Tag Archives: Nick Denton

García Interactive: ‘Death to the free’ – John Duncan on why people should pay

Inspired by three online news items (David Carr on NYTimes.com; Gawker’s Nick Denton / Jonah Bloom of AdAge), John Duncan argues on Garcia International that the ‘recession is (ultimately) good for online publishing.’

“There comes a time for most orthodoxies when they just plain run out of doxy,” he writes…”The biggest mistake newspapers made in the internet era was to devalue content by dishing it out for free.”

His point is perhaps clearest in his final paragraph:

“What we are learning now is that a user of a free product does not have remotely the same value as a customer of a paying one.”

Full story…

MediaBistro: Gawker lays off 19 members of editorial staff and cancels page view bonuses

Head of Gawker.com, Nick Denton, announced on Friday that he was letting go 19 members of the editorial staff in a ‘preemptive move’, including Moe Tkacik, who was only recently recruited. Page view bonuses for the first quarter of next year are also to be cancelled in light of the ‘upcoming fiscal crisis’.

Managing editor wanted for Gawker

This isn’t where we normally flag up job listings (for full job listings visit this part of the site) but this is an interesting one – since it was posted on September 2, the advert has received 6,722 views, and 150 comments. Manhattan media news and gossip site, Gawker.com, is inviting applications for the post of managing editor.

The incumbent, Nick Denton, says that he needs to get back to his ‘other job’, so is calling for a permanent replacement to join the team.

While admitting he’s never watched an episode of the Hills, he does say it’s mandatory to be ‘plugged into both society gossip and mass culture’. Follow the link here for full details.

Fishbowl NY: Sacked Gawker editor says Denton’s role is a conflict of interest

Gawker associate editor Maggie Shnayerson, who was fired by boss Nick Denton on Sunday night, says Denton’s role as editor and publisher of the media gossip site creates ‘a conflict of interest’.

Shnayerson said Denton was trying to make the site too mainstream.

“Gawker shouldn’t be a depository for the latest viral video,” she told Fishbowl NY

Is Gawker losing it?

Gawker has been enduring a more tumultuous time than usual over the last couple of months, topped by reports this week that its Gizmodo blogger, Richard Blakeley, was banned from CES for attempting a prank to scupper sections of the event.

New York Times asked if the site had ‘Jumped the Snark‘ and reported that traffic for November was down. In the wake of this dip, boss Nick Denton placed himself as managing editor replacing Choire Sicha  as other leading editors left:

“There are certainly signs that Gawker, delivering a daily dose of gossip and commentary about the news business and selected celebrities since 2002, is in the midst of a particularly intense period of turmoil, which has led to a slide in its once-hypnotic influence on the news media world.”

More here.

When the press was paper, there were simple and understandable ways for everyone to earn money for a publishing house: advertising on the pages and selling a newspaper or magazine. Now that everything has gone online, even many well-known magazines do not know how to make money from online media. One of the ways, of course, is a subscription, but you can also earn money in affiliate marketing with sites like 1Win partners and monetize traffic. Also, many use the model of free articles + paid exclusive, which also works well.

Gawker to pay bloggers based on page views they generate

Valleywag has a good couple of pieces about Gawker supreme Nick Denton’s decision to pay staff on his leading blogs according to how many page views their posts register.

Gawker writers will be paid a set monthly fee with additional payments:

According to Valleywag a memo sent to staff said:

“Each site will be assigned a pageview rate. At the end of the month, if the money you earn in pageviews exceeds your monthly base pay, you will be paid the extra money as a bonus.”

The scheme already runs on Wonkette, Gizmodo and Defamer. A salary of $2,000 per month on a page view rate of $5 would need to generate north of 400,000 page views each month to begin earning bonus.