Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Dan Matan — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:08:19 -0000

I've been an Ars member since '99. Although the news side of things is very well done, the forums are where it's at (and seemingly where a lot of the current editors have been tapped from).

Over the past year or two, they've done a really good job on getting onto Slashdot and Google News with their well written articles, which presumably added a lot of value/eyeballs.

I'd imagine that the forums, the root of the community, don't create much ad revenue (and they might lose a lot of their for-pay subs and for-pay premium subbers). But it probably could if they decided to go with annoying in-your-face adverts.

Only time will tell, here's to another good 8.5 years.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

sevin malony — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:58:05 -0000

saw the 24/7 "analysis". assuming it's right - and i very much doubt those numbers reflect reality - then, folk,s we're back to the bubblicious days. but hey, if ars or any of these other sites can find a buyer, more power to them. nothing wrong with being greedy if some dope is begging to give you their money. but c'mon, we've been here before. or has everyone in the world forgotten the "battle for eyeballs" back a few years ago.

anyway, pass the bong and inhale deeply. and the band played on

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Eric Berlin — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:58:54 -0000

Agree with Lucas -- that was my first thought: $36 CPM seems awfully high. Perhaps they get it for a limited amount of inventory but can't imagine it's across -the-board.

Also agree with Mathew that Ars could be a good fit for Conde -- they're putting together a pretty interesting digital portfolio.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

mathewi — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:41:03 -0000

That's a fair point, Lucas. Those are pretty high CPMs for a site like
Ars, and assuming they get that for every page view is probably
overstating things. That said, however, I looked at TechCrunch and saw
that Ars has about four times as many page views, and I had seen an
estimate somewhere that TC was making about $600,000 a month, so I
thought I was in the right ballpark revenue-wise.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

mathewi — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:29:04 -0000

Calvin, I don't see how you can say Ars isn't very relevant and Conde
Nast doesn't have much depth in tech -- and I guess we'll just have to
disagree about CBS and CNET.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Lucas Gonze — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:07:19 -0000

$36 CPM is very very rich. Even if they get that on some page views, they don't have 100% sell through at that rate.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

calvin pearson — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:06:57 -0000

Am still waitng for Arrington to write this one: "Why Conde bought Ars, and not the other way around?"

more seriously, this one is bizarre. ars isn't very relevant and conde is limited when it comes to the high tech space. the cbs/cnet deal which you trashed (unfairly, imho) yesterday appears to make for a far more powerful combination.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

mathewi — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:43:03 -0000

I actually think Conde Nast is not a bad fit for Ars. I think it and
Wired should be able to work pretty well together. In a lot of ways,
Ars is kind of like a magazine anyway -- it just doesn't have a
printed version.

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Sal — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:23:10 -0000

Congrats to the Ars guys. I think they deserve it, and here's hoping that Conde Naste doesn't come in and screw it up. I think it's fair to say that Reddit hasn't been screwed up by Conde Nast, yet. Harder to imagine how it might effect a content company however!