A couple of days ago we mentioned that Gawker had launched two new blogs including Lifehacker – a blog about downloading software and time saving that has been sponsored by Sony. Today Adage (subscription required) announced that that sponsorship is worth around $25,000 per month! Now that is some serious sponsorship which is a lot higher than most blog sponsorship deals that I’ve been privy to the details of. The article goes on to say that the deal includes some exposure on Gizmodo and will run for around 3 months.
$25,000 a month is pretty good for an untested new blog – although it being a Gawker blog almost guarantees some pretty serious readership.
I’ve recently been negotiating with an Ad Agency for one of my blogs. They have a client interested in a sponsorship deal for a month long test period. I’m keen to give it a go – not just because its potentially worth a few thousand dollars (I’m not in Gawker’s league but a guy has to start somewhere) but also because I’m interested in testing the effectiveness of this type of campaign. I will of course keep you updated here.
The article from Adage is worth the read. Here is a snippet:
‘And Gawker blog readers, even if there’s only a million who flock to a site, are considered “prime influencers” in the niche they frequent. “They are connectors — people who are into technology and are influencing people about the technology they are into,” said Brad Bowers, co-founder of BlackInc. Ventures, an agency that provides outsourced business development and revenue generation to small- and mid-size Internet companies.
When he approached Sony for his client Gawker, he told executives, “The people on blogs are talking about your products and are early adopters.” With the deal Sony comes across as a company that’s forward-thinking and learning how blogging works, he added.
Not everyone is convinced that traditional online ads are suitable for blogs. “They can cheapen and compromise a blog,” said John Cate, vice president and national media director in the San Francisco office of Carat Interactive, part of Aegis Group. At this stage, he favors encouraging his client to “counter-blog” if the information on a blog goes against his marketer. But, he admitted, “if it’s a good piece of content and the audience is there, then it’s worthy of advertising.”’
Read more at SONY PAYS $25,000 A MONTH FOR GAWKER BLOG
Sony sponsoring a web log on downloading software to make your life easier? Considering I spent 20 minutes a couple nights ago trying to convince them to LET me download a piece of sub-par software that would allow me to load files onto my NetMD minidisc player. Nope, can’t download that, but we’ll sell you the CD….
It’s not as if the software in question would be illegally distributed or anything – it’s quite possibly the worst piece of software I’ve ever used, and I have used some spectacular pieces of crap…
Without this little piece of software, the NetMD is pretty much a play-only device, so I had to track down an illicit copy of it in order to make it work. Thanks, Sony.
Heya,
My blog is brand new but I am curious if you (or other bloggers/webmasters) are approached by advertisers or do you, once your sites become popular, go out and proposition companies that might be interested? Also, how do you know how much to charge for advertising on your site?
Should Bloggers declare their Sponsors, so we can tell they will have that Bias. Some may term this selling out your fans