In an unexpected development, G/O Media, the parent company of Jezebel, a liberal feminist-focused website, announced its closure and the subsequent layoff of its staff last week.
The 16-year-old site has been grappling with dwindling advertising revenues, a common issue in the industry, and was reportedly being shopped around for a potential buyer by G/O Media, as reported by Axios last month.
One of the contributing factors to this situation was the site's alienation of advertisers, a phenomenon that has become increasingly prevalent due to the left-wing hostility.
Townhall Media, the parent company of Redstate and a right-of-center entity, is no stranger to such tactics employed by the left, including silencing methods.
Articles are often flagged by search engines, and social media platforms are known to suppress or remove posts that deviate from accepted narratives, regardless of their accuracy. Another strategy involves targeting the advertising aspect.
Certain content is labeled as controversial or toxic, a claim then used to deter advertisers in an attempt to choke sites by cutting off ad revenue. There are several ways to execute this strategy. One involves collaborating with "misinformation police" sources like NewsGuard, which downgrades sites and labels them as dangerous to potential companies. Other groups target both the companies and the online advertising exchanges to persuade them to halt their commercial placements on sites deemed "dangerous."
However, as the online advertising market becomes more unstable and advertisers more averse to any controversy, this tactic is starting to impact those on the left as well. Vice News, for instance, has been struggling with reduced revenues, leading to numerous layoffs as its brand of journalism is driving away many advertisers. Jezebel was also facing this issue.
Insiders and former employees from Jezebel spoke to 404 Media about the challenges they were facing and the directives from management to reverse the site's fortunes. The CEO of G/O Media was reportedly trying to tone down the site's content, suspecting that some of the edgier posts were likely deterring advertisers.
This extended beyond just controversial articles and topics. The management decided to remove the site's long-standing tagline, "Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With teeth." This move reportedly yielded some positive results, as the editing team began to see ads from major brands that had not previously advertised on the site. However, this was a small solution implemented too late, and the site was unable to recover.
The issue at hand is one that left-wing activists have cultivated. As the advertising market contracts, companies have been conditioned to avoid sites that are deemed problematic or controversial. The recent woke movement has demonstrated that companies are deterred by the perception of online controversy, even when those voicing complaints are not typically part of a brand's core customer base.
In the case of Jezebel's closure, it appears that the site is feeling the impact of this adverse advertising market created by leftist agitators. While conservative outlets are often accused of "misinformation" and various controversial claims, advertisers are now generally avoiding areas that can provoke emotional responses with polarizing content, regardless of political affiliation.
Jezebel was known for its pro-abortion stance, a topic that invariably elicits emotional responses. Consequently, the site suffered the consequences of advertisers being conditioned to avoid contentious topics and the sites that focus on them.
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