Gawker Media, headed by founder and owner Nick Denton, has launched Kotaku.com, a computer gaming site; Screenhead.com, an entertainment site that uses Photoshop and Flash animation; and Jalopnik.com, a car site.
Denton said that the acceleration of broadband use has prompted more advertising agencies to look at blogs as a realistic means of communicating clients’ messages.
“It's evidence that blue-chip marketers are finally looking at [blogs] as part of their online media mix,” said Denton, who notes the majority of Gawker viewers are from the ages of 18 to 34, two-thirds of them male.
And with the Jalopnik car site, Denton was able to score Audi as the exclusive advertiser.
“Gawker sites have attracted advertisers such as Nike, New Line and General Electric. But Audi is the most significant advertiser so far,” he said.
For a number of years, Gawker has published Fleshbot, as well as tech-toy site Gizmodo.com and media-and-celebrity gossip sites Gawker.com, Defamer.com and Wonkette.com.
Denton got his start in the Internet in 1996, writing on the subject for the Financial Times, before founding First Tuesday, an Internet events business, and Moreover Technologies, a search technology portal. He later sold both firms.