PaidContent vs. TechCrunch: Blogging Futures

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March 31, 2008

The Bits blog over at the NY Times has a piece on the different approaches that Mike Arrington of TechCrunch and Rafat Ali of PaidContent take when it comes to their blogging business. While Mike goes for opinion, Rafat prefers analysis but the Times says that the debate is more than an argument over journalistic style; it reflects how the two companies see their futures.

For Rafat – nimble and on/offline is good:

Mr. Ali [is] planning the Internet version of a trade media company with a growing series of blogs covering media, entertainment and technology. The company, called ContentNext, also added Charlie Koones, the former publisher of Variety, to its board, signaling that Hollywood was an area of keen interest.

There is money to be made, Mr. Ali argued, in conferences and advertising aimed squarely at top executives in these fields. And he dismissed criticism that the site has lagged in page views, saying advertising rates have been very high.

“Our focus is not page views,” Mr. Ali said. “Our focus has been laserlike on the C-level executives in the industry. That’s why we get triple-digit CPMs. That’s nearly unheard of in the industry.”

Mr. Ali and Mr. Richardson are planning the Internet version of a trade media company with a growing series of blogs covering media, entertainment and technology.

For Mike – big is better:

Mr. Arrington described blogging as fitting successfully into two extremes: very small or very large. On one end, he described a “lifestyle business” in which one person who might be able to attract 1 million page views a month might earn a nice living with low expenses. On the other extreme, he suggests there is an efficiency in scale.

“Micro-brands can be very profitable because of the high advertising rates they can get for their audiences, and if you put all the brands under the same roof they can send traffic to each other where it is appropriate,” he said.

The technology blogging market, in particular, has become so crowded with both independents and blogs from mainstream organizations that such scale is needed.

PaidContent vs. TechCrunch: Two Visions of Blogging’s Future – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog