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Game Changer: Deadline.com's Parent Company Buys Variety
Photo of the Variety building in L.A. by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
A big move in the showbiz trade news biz was revealed today: Penske Media Corporation, parent company of the wildly popular Hollywood insider site Deadline.com, has purchased trade rag veteran Variety.Deadline was founded by cutthroat industry journalist and blogger Nikki Finke, who is learning that despite the big deal, she is going to stay put. "Deadline's founder and editor-in-chief Nikki Finke will not be involved in running Variety," notes L.A. Times blog Company Town, who spoke with Penske CEO Jay Penske:
"What Nikki has architected at Deadline is simply amazing," Penske said. "To alter or change the chemistry of Deadline would be in our opinion a huge mistake."
Finke is know for her fearless, fast-as-lightening reporting of showbiz industry news, and her hilariously well-crafted headlines, and is considered one of the forces that kept Variety down of late.
In the official release about the purchase, Penske said:
“Since 1905, Variety has been the world’s premier entertainment news source, and is today one of the most recognized global media brands. We are thrilled to welcome Variety and its exceptional team into the PMC organization. As part of this significant acquisition, we plan to rapidly build upon Variety’s foundation while extending this invaluable brand’s presence across the web, broadcast, mobile, and international markets.”
Deadline's Mike Fleming blogs that he expects significant changes, however: "I would be surprised, for instance, if Variety continues behind a pay wall, or continues to exist in its current form as a daily and weekly print publication," he writes.
Indeed, the web era has perhaps been part of Variety's troubles of late. That's the opinion of rival publication The Hollywood Reporter, in their coverage of the estimated $25 million sale: "In recent years, Variety has struggled in figuring out the best way to adapt to digital times." And again, that darn paywall is what many see as holding them back.
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The numbers don't lie, as Company Town breaks down:
Variety.com had a little over 17,000 paying users (some of whom also subscribe to print editions). Because of its pay wall, the website's traffic lags far behind its competitors. In August Variety.com had 320,000 unique visitors, according to ComScore, while HollywoodReporter.com and Deadline.com, which are both free to read, had 5.1 million and 2.4 million, respectively.
So is this good news or bad news for Finke, Deadline, the Penske empire, and Variety? Penske explains:
"We are not buying Variety to gut the newsroom. We are buying the business to build it. Are there going to be changes? Yes. Do we want to reduce our dependency on print revenues? Yes. How quickly that can happen, we'll know more in the coming months."
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