Consumerist Gets Scooped Up by Consumers' Union

Certainly wasn't expecting to cover actual news this week, but this headline just came across the transom: Consumers Union is buying Gawker Media blog Consumerist, which devotes itself to the trials and tribulations of the contemporary consumer. As one example of what Consumerist covers, here's a headline from today: "DirecTV's "Free Professional Installation" Neither Professional Nor Free". Since that post pictured a discarded DirecTV satellite dish in the weeds along with some other roadside trash, you can guess at Consumerist's problem: it wasn't exactly an advertiser darling, even with the Gawker Media network behind it.

That's why if, on first blush, the acquisition of the snarky Consumerist by the serious-minded Consumers Union seems strange, it's actually extremely sensible. (Terms were not disclosed.) Consumers Union, like Consumerist, has kept its singular editorial voice because it doesn't even court advertising. Now Consumerist can join the ad-free fun. In addition, as The New York Times points out, adding Consumerist to the Consumers Union portfolio allows the company to draw on a much younger audience than the one that is attracted to its other properties. Print subscribers have an average age of 60, and even ConsumerReports.org skews old, with an average age of 50. Meanwhile, more than three-quarters of Consumerist's audience is between 18 and 49.

In other words, this union, forgive the pun, is just about demographically perfect. It's not just that the demographics line up; it's also that it would be extremely difficult for Consumers Union to build an audience to rival Consumerist's on its own. Fortunately, Consumers Union says it has no intention to change the site, except to free it from having to accept advertising; in fact, in addition to keeping long-time editor Ben Popken, the blog is bringing back several bloggers who were laid off earlier this year. Good luck to Ben and his reunited team.