Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Go Ahead, Make Fun Of The Drudge Report -- But We All Desperately Need It


UPDATE: A good day for The Wrap, as this story about Paul Thomas Anderson and Tom Cruise got Drudge's attention as well.

Always fun to see the power of the Drudge Report. Today’s example, a general ratings story about CNN's shocking decline, is a perfect lesson in why he’s hugely important to metrics and, therefore, advertising. Even though THR has the exact same story, Deadline was “chosen” to be linked … and now Nikki gets the audience and the comments. And who knows why one gets chosen over the other: maybe Deadline posted first, maybe they alerted him first. But the aggregator is all about trust and relationships, and he knows that Nikki’s site is a news factory. Which poses the question: What is the Drudge pecking order among the trades?



Easy. Deadline is a favorite of the site, with Nikki’s box office report routinely getting love along with many of the “big ticket” items that Mike and Nellie break. THR has a less routine presence, though they’ve scored some big pickups in the past few months. Variety stories are seldom linked because of the paywall and, to some degree, the culture they have created that they are more of an “industry” publication. And except for The Wrap’s recent Mel Gibson break, it’s extremely rare that he points to them.

2 comments:

  1. Check Drudge's blogroll:
    Deadline and Nikki are both listed
    Daily Variety (old school) is listed.
    NO Wrap. NO Sharon Waxman and, interestingly, no Hollywood Reporter.
    C'mon anonymous person behind this blog, this seems to be a key point that's missing from your post.

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    Replies
    1. Sir/Madam - thank you for your comment. The Hollywood Reporter is right there in the Drudge blogroll. (Listed as H'WOOD REPORTER). To make your argument even emptier, he even has DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD incorrectly listed as DATELINE HOLLYWOOD. Besides, the blogroll generates little traffic for these sites. It's the individual stories called out through links. And he has a nice track record with some and not others. But again - your entire argument rested on a premise that she's getting favored status. And the blogroll proved that three out of the four publications are fairly and squarely listed.

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