Gawker Media has sold the Consumerist blog to the publisher of Consumer Reports, Consumers Union, according to the New York Times. The blog, which is often the place where consumers place their complaints about stores and products, is expected to become a division within the new owner, and the current editorial staff is not expected to change and will remain publishing the blog.
Terms were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close on Thursday, or New Years Day (in US Eastern Standard Time).
Among the changes, Meghann Marco has been promoted to co-executive editor alongside current executive editor Ben Popken; and the two former editors for the Consumerist that were sacked by Nick Denton, Carey Greenberg-Berger and Chris Walters, will return to the blog. As well, a new privacy policy will be introduced – because of the new owners.
“When Consumers Union was formed, it was a pretty snarky, aggressive organization that took on big organizations just like Consumerist is doing today; it’s just going to an audience that we basically don’t reach,” John Sateja, executive vice president of Consumer Reports, told the newspaper.
“It may not be language, or voice or style that Consumers Union has, in recent years, become accustomed to, but it is part of the roots of the organization.”
Nick Denton, the founder and president of the Gawker Media, announced that the blog was up for sale around the same time when it consolidated Valleywag into the Gawker blog, a gossip blog centric around New York. He has also announced that he will sell the gossip blog Defamer in order to cut back on costs.
While Consumers Union makes money off subscriptions from its Consumer Reports website and magazines, the Consumerist is expected to be free and not have any subscription-based model. Also, the new deal will allow them to reach a more younger audience, as an average subscriber to Consumer Reports is 50, while the average age of Consumerist readers is between 18 to 49, according to Quantcast.
Definitely good compared to the Consumerist going away. However, I’m personally concerned about this purchase.
I operate TrueDelta.com, which provides vehicle reliability information. Our information has two large advantages over that of Consumer Reports:
1. Report actual repair rates, not just vague dots, to make the differences between models much clearer.
2. Results promptly updated four times a year; so our information averages about ten months ahead of CR’s.
But, since we’re a competitor, you’ll never see CR mention our information, and I’m personally not allowed to mention my site in their forums–even when I have information that they cannot provide. Now that they’ve bought the Consumerist, I suspect the same will be true for it.
Quite a few times a journalist has told me that he can’t write about the unique information TrueDelta.com offers car buyers, because part of what the site offers competes with information offered by their employer.
In other words, from where I sit media consolidation isn’t a good thing. Each media outlet has its own interests, and these come before the interests of readers. The larger these outlets get, the broader their interests get, and the more delimited their reporting gets.