Friday, January 2, 2009

Consumerist Consumed?

One of my favorite websites — Gawker Media's the Consumerist — has been bought by the company that owns Consumer Reports.

A story in the NYT says Consumer Reports is interested in attracting younger readers:

"It is also something of a logical fit. Consumerist is popular, with about 1.8 million unique visitors a month, according to the online measurement service Quantcast, but has had trouble attracting advertising because the site often criticizes companies."

I was worried that, like Consumer Reports' website, the Consumerist would becomes subscription-based (especially since the new owners won't be selling online ads) but the site's editors say content will remain free.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The larger danger is that the site will become one big advertisement for CR. And that CR will limit the site's content.

I operate TrueDelta.com, which provides vehicle reliability, pricing, and fuel economy information. Because CR covers the same topics, I'm not allowed to mention my site on their forums, even when we have information they simply don't provide. Will the same now be the case with The Consumerist?