
Luxury publisher Greenspun Media made a big deal, just two days ago, about its “category crushing” new web portal that was going to make Citysearch look like Web 1.0. (In-sult!) The anchor of its new restaurant-nightlife-events website would be Las Vegas Life, the high-brow glossy for the well to do, extending the luxe brand to the web.
Except now Greenspun chief Michael Carr says the April issue of Las Vegas Life will be its last. So much for luxury publishers riding out the recession.
Is this the future of the Greenspun-Niche Media-Ocean Drive partnership that was hammered out just this quarter? Will Jason Binn’s Gotham chug along as a mere domain name? And what’s to happen to Lenny Dykstra’s The Players Club, a magazine for the sports set by the sports set, from upscale niche publisher Doubledown Media?
It’s this uncertainty of free, heavy paper stock magazines we don’t read that keeps us up at night.
We’re still not sure what, exactly, luxury publisher Greenspun Media will be rolling out on Memorial Day, but chief Michael Carr believes his new online project will make the competition look like toddlers. “Yahoo, New York magazine may be doing a piece of it, but we’re doing the whole thing. We’ll invest in the infrastructure. That’s why it’s going to be a category crusher.” So, um, what is the Jason Binn/Niche Media partner cooking up? “An interactive portal of information,” says Folio, where each regional site will be a front door to “restaurants, sporting events, schools and ‘everything hyperlocal.’” Oooh, so like Citysearch? Throw up a few ads for Patek Philippe and insert a party photo section, and it’s online Gotham!
