Verena Says

Earlier today, Dan sent a really nice note to the whole extended Mediaitemishpocha giving props for a great last month of traffic and work. I asked him if I could publish it here because I agree with him about the awesomeness of the sites Mediaite has spawned in the last year - Geekosystem, Styleite, Sportsgrid- and the awesome peeps who run the joints. This was just an internal note so Dan used first names only but what the hell, I’ll boldface here, in order of appearance: Robert Quigley, Susana Polo, Verena von Pfetten(Canadian!), Ruthie Friedlander, Justin Fenner (I don’t even know ‘er!), Andy LoCasio, Dan Fogarty, Glenn Davis, Colby Hall, Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer, Tommy Christopher, Frances Martel, Jon Bershad, Video Jon (yes he has a name, but why spoil it), Andrew Cedotal and Scott Smitelli. Dan also shouts out to our kissing cousins at Gossip Cop (and if you say we actually kissed them, they’ll apply the truth-o-meter): Michael Lewittes, Daniel Jacobson, and Shari Weiss. Dan also shouted out the terrific crew of interns we have across the sites this summer, and I’ll name ‘em here: Jocelyn Rousey, Steven Jessop, Rika Nurrahmah, Meenal Vamburkar, Hilary Frazier, David Helene, Jamie Block and Michael Suen. Also, to the person I inevitably forgot: There’s a half-open bottle of vodka on my desk. If you’re over 21, you can have it.

I wrote on this blog a few months ago of how bizarro it was to remember back to when the first little knot of us were working out of Dan’s living room - that was three offices ago as we’ve grown and grown. Now we’re a stone’s throw from Gawker, HuffPo and, er, Forever 21. Okay maybe that last one is just relevant to me. But still. Point being, it feels good - and it feels especially good to get a nice note like this as a reminder that we’re all part of something bigger. With the subject line “Congrats!!” here is the email Dan sent to us this morning…

I just wanted to send everyone a quick note of congratulations. The
month of July was a record month for all of our sites! One year in and
all the sites are vastly exceeding expectations.

First I want to congratulate Robert, Susana and the truly fantastic
interns on the enormous growth and success of Geekosystem. The site is
trending at well over 800k unique visitors per month after just six
months! Robert has been so smart in his leadership there, picking the
right stories, writing them in a funny and compelling manner and then
picking great SEO titles. Someone could write a book on how to make a
blog work using Quigs as the model (uhh maybe I will).

Styleite also had a record breaking month having grown a whopping 90%
from last month. Styleite did just shy of 500k uniques with fantastic
page views last month. In fact, Styleite is doing better page views
per visitor than any site we have! Hard to believe its only four
months old! Congrats to Verena, Ruthie, Justin and the rest of the
interns, they really are nailing it and quickly becoming a “go to”
site for anyone in the fashion world!

In the words of our guru Andy L “Dan you know that Sportsgrid is
growing faster then any other site did.” Yes Andy I know! After just
two months Sportsgrid is already a “player.” Dan and Glenn (of course
with the guidance of Colby) have worked tirelessly to get Sportsgrid
to where it is today doing 340k uniques last month. Its amazing that
in that competitive arena, so to speak, they are already getting major
pickup on their stories. That is a testament to their smart and
strategic choices and writing.

All of the sites have benefited from the old work horse and largest
site, one year old Mediaite, linking to them. Mediaite had its most
page views ever last month, according to our internal numbers, just
shy of 8 million page views. Colby, Glynnis and Steve have really
figured out what works and Mediaite has become influential enough that
they have really come to help define the national debate. Tommy
continues to dazzle with his unique and smart takes, while Frances and
Jon. B are in many ways the heart of the site, cranking out compelling
stories at a dizzying pace. Video Jon is more than just a secret
weapon, he is a serious workhorse who also has a terrific sensibility
for what will make for the most interesting clips of the day. I can’t
emphasize how important that is (and he is) to the success of the
site. And, of course, we continue to have the not so secret weapon of
Ms. Rachel Sklar writing, advising, making us think, and representing
us to the public at large. Finally let me say a special congrats to
all of the Mediaite interns who have also been really great this
summer.

I also want to thank Andrew, just because we have to thank Andrew for
any successes we have. And Scott for continuing to make us look and
work better.

Finally, our partner site Gossip Cop also had a record breaking month
(and their first Drudge link). Michael is doing a million uniques per
month over there and page views that would make most entertainment
sites salivate. Congrats to Michael, Daniel and Shari.

Here is to overachieving next month as well!

Dan Abrams

p.s. It’s amazing how many of the incredible above-mentioned people we found through Craigslist. For reals.

And now, a break from my regularly scheduled absence to promote a blog featuring nothing but photos of French Bulldogs.

Diane Sawyer has interviewed a chimpanzee, made Britney cry, and talked crack-quality with Whitney Houston. If that’s not worthy of a listicle video round-up, I don’t know what is.

Jeff just blew up my Gchats.