DailyWot.com is an international online media property that provides its visitors with a rich repository of quick, light, fresh and constantly updated content. The site offers up the latest news spanning a wide variety of categories, including but not limited to ‘Celebrity,’ ‘Travel,’ ‘Politics’ and ‘Fun.’ But what’s interesting about it is the fact that it has grown into a vibrant online business during a period when so many other online media companies are struggling.
Since internet access became commonplace over the past few decades, the traditional media industry has been under mounting pressure. Two forces have driven this pressure: (1) media consumers lack the appetite to pay for media subscriptions and (2) explosive growth in online advertising inventory driven down the cost publishers are able to charge advertisers. To make matters worse for the traditional players, the barriers to entry are extremely low – anyone can launch a competing online news organisation these days.
The DailyWot is a prime example of a media property that has managed to identify the industry trends and ride them to its own benefit – both in terms of the number of users it can drive to the site, and in terms of the advertiser appeal that the site continues to demonstrate. The site specializes in producing content that is easy to consume and easy to create, and this seems to be a winning formula in today’s environment where most audiences have a severe shortage of attention and patience.
So instead of focusing on long-form content that appeals to the most thoughtful-minded readers, the site churns out fast, easy-to-read-and-watch content that appeals to a vast base of visitors from all around the globe. But of course, any online media company can be successful only if it manages to attract a steady stream of visitors and find a way to monetize those visitors effectively.
In terms of monetization, DailyWot.com has concentrated all of its efforts on building strong relationships with advertising and affiliate networks – the types that aggregate a critical mass of product vendors who are willing to pay purely on the basis of performance. By working with these networks, the company does away with the need for a direct sales force and instead concentrates its efforts on acquiring and analyzing data to optimize placements. In The DailyWot’s world, they get to pick and choose which networks they will work with.
From the outside, it looks as their formula is working effectively, though it is impossible to say how profitable the site is. From what we gather, they rely primarily on independent journalists to create their unique content, and as such, they’re able to keep things pretty lean. As long as they can keep churning out quick, fresh and entertaining content – while keeping costs down – we believe they could be on to something big. They might even be able to grow into a media powerhouse for today’s always-on, always-connected generation of consumers.