The Twenty-Five Most Valuable Blogs: At first I thought this was linkbait but a read through the article and the other content on the blog changed my mind. There is some analysis of each blog/blogging company with details about the company, guesses on revenues and page views, future prospects, operating margins and employees, advertising statistics and finally a comment on property valuation as multiples of revenue or multiples of operating profits. From my quick glance I would say that the revenue numbers are not perfectly on the money but since these figures are almost never publicly discussed (except on make money online blogs) I guess there is some error built into the valuation. Daniel’s excellent Daily Blog Tips($1.8M) makes it into the list at number 18. The Gawker properties tops the list at a value of $150 million and other big names include TechCrunch($36M), Mashable($10M), GigaOm($8.4M) and RWW($5M).
A few things surprised me about the entry. I try to keep a very short list of reads and trim and add to them all the time. The fact that the top twenty blogs were on my reading list was a strange surprise. Another surprise was that there was not a single link on the original linked post. (Not one link. I wonder if that was done by choice since their other articles contain links.) I was also surprised by the detailed reasoning for the valuations and the stream of numbers that were presented. Considering that the blog in question is on Wall Street and finance, I should not be surprised but I am not used to seeing this level of financial proficiency on blog valuations.
All in all it was a pleasure to read and compare.
I was surprised to find DBT listed there actually :).
He estimated my annual earnings at $240,000, which is far above the real figure. But I will do my best to bump the revenues in 2008 to make justice to it :).
Sorry, but there’s no way this is accurate. First of all, Weblogs Inc. (Engadget. TUAW, Download Squad, etc., etc.) doesn’t make the list, but Gawker’s at the top?
Second of all, this isn’t the first time a list like this has come out that’s completely inaccurate. As you mentioned revenue is never discussed for these types of media outlets, and revenue is only one aspect of placing value on a company.
I should say the analysis is pretty close. Though it may be off mark the actual sales figures. Based on the CPM rates if the webmasters can hire good enough sales guys to sell to advertisers the said income may be a reality.
Hmm … my blogs aren’t on that list. Oh, right … my earnings are less than $500 a year 😛
Of the 25 sites they listed, I really only read one. Most of them I’ve never visited, and only a few have maintained or improved their level of quality over the years. While it’s great that some groups of people can put in incredible efforts to earn a comfortable living through blogging (and amateur or budding journalism), these lists don’t seem to carry as much weight as lists involving single-person blogs. Perhaps it’s because most of us will never reach these levels of revenue.
I wonder if there are any lists of “Top Bloggers Who Earn Under $10K” online….
I’m shocked. None of my blogs made the list. Of course you do need good content and a steady supply of readers helps 🙂 Oh well, maybe next time.
All in English language?
hahaha nice jab there Darrly :p
btw good list but misses a lot of sites… its ok you cant fit all of em in a small list…. 😉
It was a good find Mark and an interesting read. The analysis is handy for the most of us who don’t keep our heads in the financial papers but do know blogging well. The numbers may be close or not, but I don’t think these are the top 25. Where’s ProBlogger? John Chow? Those blogs definitely have >$1M valuations.
its quite an interesting list.. but a blog should be measured from the readers or subscribers. well at least thats what i thought =)