Nick Denton Finds a New Nemesis
Nick Denton understands better than anyone the traffic value of a little nasty
Nick Denton understands better than anyone the traffic value of a little nasty
Nick Denton understands better than anyone the traffic value of a little nasty. So it’s good news for Gawker Media’s site stats, as well as for the tech industry’s gossip mongers, that he’s returned to the keyboard – this time to helm Silcon Valley gossip rag ValleyWag.
His first assault is on John Battelle’s FM Publishing. Denton says Fark.com, pioneering news and humor aggregator, has bailed on the branded network in favor of a sweeter deal with Maxim. We’re also told Digg is about to jump ship, which if true would deal a credibility blow to Battelle, in whose cap Digg is the second biggest feather (the first being flagship property BoingBoing).
Battelle responds to the charge here and lets his irritation show. It’s certainly a tad gauche for Denton to kick off with this item, since Battelle’s high-touch ad network is Denton’s most direct competitor. But it’s also in character, since Gawker’s style has always derived from tabloids — and who slings competitive mud better than The Post and Daily News? Their rivalry is crude and unprofessional, but they get away with it because it’s fun. The Denton v. Calacanis years were always a good time for reporters. Before AOL acquired Weblogs Inc., the two blasted each other on a weekly basis. Calacanis would assert Denton’s network is 90 percent porn, and Denton would say Calacanis’s sites are, and I quote, “as memorable as Burger King franchises.” (There’s similar promise in the current rivalry between Ze Frank and RocketBoom’s Drew Baron, but that’s another story for another time.)
In the short term, Denton’s likely to generate more heat from advertisers by moving into the editor’s seat. He used to tell me ValleyWag and Fleshbot had always worked against his business, and he worries that big advertisers shy of his crass properties will suddenly yank their spend out of brand adjacency concerns or anger at something published on Gawker. As editor AND publisher, invoking the church/state clause won’t be as easy for Denton as it once was.
update: Exhibit B
update 2: Exhibit C
More about:
Lucy helps organizations leverage knowledge for in... View Tech Talk
TVSquared is the global leader in cross-platform T... View Tech Talk
Grata is a B2B search engine for discovering small... View Tech Talk
Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing ... Download Now
Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. ... Download Now
This report documents the findings of a Fireside c... Download Now
Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touc... Download Now
Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...
View resourceData is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...
View resourceThis report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...
View resourceCustomers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...
View resourceMarketers today need to thoughtfully select visuals that align with their content, boost SEO performance and drive ROI Read More...
View articleHow the sunglasses giant created subconscious brand recall value with music festival-goers through the power of strategic partnerships and experientia...
View articleIn life, as much as on LinkedIn (or Facebook, Twitter, etc.) people and brands who blabber on about themselves become annoying and best avoided, soone...
View articleBuilding trust in your brand is hard enough. Now take a situation where your audience is so cynical of your product offering some of them even call fo...
View articleThere is room for better lead capturing as ABM evolves in a cookieless world Read More...
View articleTop-of-mind action points that will be valuable to challenger brand marketing for the rest of 2021 and 2022 Read More...
View articleOmnichannel marketing presents an opportunity to marketers but requires better use of data Read More...
View articleThe dark horse your business needs to outperform competition and win at search Read More...
View article