So with 30 million page views x 4 units x $30/page ratecard, Gawker Media's annual ad inventory is priced at $52 million retail.
How much inventory do they sell? 50%? 70%? 40%?
Every time you see a Gawker t-shirt button or a Gawker Artists or a Jalopnik banner, it's an impression that didn't sell. How often and when does that happen to you on a GM site?
Consumerist's editors recently bragged that no one's ever bought an ad on the site, which turned out to be essentially true.
So for the network as a whole, let's say it's 60%. MSRP: $31 million/yr.
A 15% discount for walking in the door: $26 million.
Discounts for buying up the entire page [i.e., the 3 biggest units, leaving the 4th button empty]: 20%? I don't know. Say it happens half the time, so 10%. $23.4 million.
Do these ads sell themselves? 15% commission, not including the tab at Balthazar: $20 million.
Is $1.5mm/month possible? Sure, why not?
But making $20 million while paying people $3000/month? Less than the chick at the Uniqlo store? Less than Chris Evans pays to have his backyard cleared? I doubt it. Gawker ain't no...damn, what was the name of Calacanis's blogging sweatshop again? I can't even remember. WIN something? Never mind.
A job at Gawker is a regular media job at a regular media company. Far be it from me to grope in the dark and overestimate the size of Denton's nut, but he's gotta be spending $5-6 mm a year.
Nick's right. When done professionally, blogging turns out to be a profitable, efficient media publishing platform, but Gawker is not clearing $51 million/year. You should still totally let him pick up the tab at Balthazar, though. And the real reason they keep hounding that Ferrari douchebag on Crosby street is because he's parking in Denton's AMG-spot.
