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Disney Quietly Shut Down Babble, the Parenting Blog It Once Acquired For $40 Million (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Babble, a parenting blog that Disney acquired reportedly for about $40 million to help it target hipster parents, quietly ceased publishing in the middle of December, TechCrunch has learned. "For everything there is a season, and after more than a decade of serving as a community and resource for parents, Babble will be saying goodbye," reads a post from the site's editors. "To all the moms, dads, family, friends, writers, and readers who supported us -- thank you. We are so grateful for the time spent sharing your stories and your lives, through all the ups and downs of raising tiny humans."
When Disney acquired Babble -- originally spun out from a (now-defunct) dating website called Nerve.com -- in 2011, it was part of a bigger push at the media giant to built up a stock of content properties to target younger parents, the kind that turn to online media for parenting advice and inspiration. The idea was that Disney would populate the site with lots of evergreen content aimed at savvy middle class parents -- recent articles included a post on soft-serve pickle-flavored ice cream and kids nailing 80s-style Halloween costumes -- to help it build a connection to these consumers that would lead, over time, to trusting and using and exposing kids to other Disney products as they grew up. But times have changed. The Disney Interactive Media Group that housed Babble doesn't exist as such anymore -- and Babble's two founders, Rufus Griscom and Alicia Volkman, moved on years ago from Disney.
When Disney acquired Babble -- originally spun out from a (now-defunct) dating website called Nerve.com -- in 2011, it was part of a bigger push at the media giant to built up a stock of content properties to target younger parents, the kind that turn to online media for parenting advice and inspiration. The idea was that Disney would populate the site with lots of evergreen content aimed at savvy middle class parents -- recent articles included a post on soft-serve pickle-flavored ice cream and kids nailing 80s-style Halloween costumes -- to help it build a connection to these consumers that would lead, over time, to trusting and using and exposing kids to other Disney products as they grew up. But times have changed. The Disney Interactive Media Group that housed Babble doesn't exist as such anymore -- and Babble's two founders, Rufus Griscom and Alicia Volkman, moved on years ago from Disney.
How is this news?
That is the popcorn out of Mickey's ass.
Douche.
Touche!
captcha: parasite
I find it hard to prance with my prolapsed anus FYI
You don't sell that to parents, but to those who are about to become parents.
It was a web site that had articles having to do with sex. They added a dating component only towards the end of their existence.
I don't respond to AC's.
So they made an announcement on the site that they were shutting it down. How is that "quietly"?
We once thought social media networks were here to stay, they're not. Almost everything is generational, kids never want the same things as their parents, the same is true of social media. Kids today think Facebook is for middle aged people, Instagram is for "serious" pictures and they have at least one flavour of the month social network right now, in 10 years time another will rise for the next generation. I wouldn't want to work in marketing and PR right now, trying to keep up with social media trends.
They robbed the public of access to cultural works that should have been freed from dead people's copyright ages ago.
And then they bought Infoseek and killed it laying all staff.
You don't sell that to parents, but to those who are about to become parents.
There's an overlap between those two categories. And since January 2016, when the People's Republic of China changed from a one-child policy to a two-child policy, there has been even more overlap.
Disney buying a $40 million site is like me spending an extra $1.50 for a dessert at a fast food establishment.
Google will notch down its advertising revenue shared with third party web sites, which will end the life of many hundred of thousands of web sites.
Friend of mine with similar traffic rates over the last several years has had advertisement revenue go down more than 50% - no one is willing to pay premium rates for web advertising because nearly all web advertising does not work.
FTS: The idea was that Disney would populate the site with lots of evergreen content aimed at savvy middle class parents
Parenting advice from Disney? Aimed at the "savvy middle class parents"? There are NO savvy parents going to Disney for parenting advice. Disney is for outlandish fantasies to entertain children for a short time, not for parenting, and every *savvy* parent knows this. The idea actually was that Disney would blow smoke up the rear of the gullible and over-privileged, while selling them on more Disney products.
I take it as an encouragement that this project failed. Parents aren't as foolish as Disney had hoped.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
And that was six to many, bitch. Why would we want to let them into our country, traitor?
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba