Gawker Media Tops List Of ‘Most Valuable Blogs’ At $150M

Here’s another talking point the next time chums Nick Denton and Michael Arrington get together to discuss cricket - Gawker Media is worth $150 million versus TechCrunch’s $36 million. Or so figures the folks at 24/7 Wall St., the financial blog.

Analyst Douglas McIntyre checked public sources (such as pageviews and advertising) and added a pinch of insight into a blog’s risk-level (like Arrington getting hit by a bus and the bulk of TechCrunch going down the tubes) to create a list of the 25 most valuable blogs. McIntyre admits there is a bit of tea-leaf predicting involved.

But getting back to the point, what makes Gawker Media (which is a network of several high-profile sites) worth more than the mighty TechCrunch? McIntyre describes Gawker as a network that is growing with a 50 percent margin. Conversely, TechCrunch, according to 24/7 doesn’t believe the site’s pageview numbers. While TC claims 3.2 million unique visitors, Compete reported 900,000 visitors in February.

Also disconcerting is “the company’s audience is not growing,” McIntyre writes. The analyst puts TC’s value at $36 million, not far from the $35 million Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodgett put on the tech blog. This No. 5 ranking for Arrington comes as the startup guru is shopping for $15 million in funding.

Has HuffPo Peaked?

McIntyre makes another interesting point, ranking the giant Huffington Post site as No. 3, rather than second place. Although Ariana Huffington’s baby is valued at $70 million, the 24/7 analysis believes HuffPo’s salad days will vanish with the political season.

“HuffPo has tried to building out other content sections, but it is likely that they cannot replace the visits from the core audience which visits the site for political comment,” McIntyre writes.

Although the HuffPo was on the way to profitability, raking in $7.5 million in 2007, the analyst said the site is on a downward trend with increasing costs, falling visits.

The Apple blog MacRumors, by contrast is attracting a growing number of visitors. The site, which 24/7 believes is worth $85 million, is also attracting well-healed advertisers paying around $30 CPM.

Seeking Alpha or Seeking Profits?

Although mum about its own financial balance sheet, 24/7 does speculate on Seeking Alpha ($15M), the other huge financial news site. Among the highlights: although attracting between 400,000 to 700,000 visitors, the site is top-heavy with staff and a margin of around 10 percent.

Search Engine Land ($2.7 million, ranked No. 15) is one of those blogs few have read if not involved in the battle between Google and Yahoo. McIntyre believes SEL attracts 500,000 pageviews and $50 CPM ad space, some of the highest on the list.

The list (all 25 blogs, plus an explanation is at 24/7 Wall St.) is likely to spark more speculation in the tightly-held professional blogging arena.