Torontoist, a Toronto blog that is closing up shop at the end of the year, is owned and operated by Gothamist LLC. From the Gothamist LLC "about us" page:
Gothamist LLC owns and operates the most popular network of city blogs on the Internet today. Founded in 2003 and led by our NYC flagship site Gothamist.com , the network has includes thirteen websites in four countries, each covering local news, events, food, and entertainment for an avid audience of young urbanites. Driven entirely by word-of-mouth, the network has grown year-over-year by more than 100%, to 11.2MM monthly page views in November, 2008.
If there was money in Torontoist, it wouldn't be shutting down. Torontoist is, and always has been, about making money, and there's nothing wrong with that. I recently broke down local blogs, differentiating between what I call "one-man-shows" and "commercial enterprises". That prompted an email from my very own Deep Throat, whose identity I shall protect while I quote him word for word.
as for my guess on who gets paid what:
I think Torontoist moved its core contributors up from $4/post to $10 (but the less frequent still get less)
BlogTO seems to be financed by what became a side business with the printed city maps--I'm imagining something as simple as going to the advertisers they wrote nice things about on the site and asking them to buy an advert
Spacing is obviously not being run without money coming in, if not a whole lot
I should point out that Deep Throat is someone who would likely know or have an educated guess on such matters. A member of the mainstream media and local blogosphere, his perspective is unique and appreciated.
Does anyone else know who's getting paid wait in the ever-commercialized blog landscape?
