Gorilla Nation announced yesterday that it has signed “exclusively” to represent 6 African-American websites: BlackNews.com, BlackInAmerica.com, BlackStudents.com, BlackWomenConnect.com, BlackHistory.com, and HireDiversity.com. Based on Compete stats the 6 sites collectively reach upwards of 211k unique visitors per month. Two of the six sites; BlackInAmerica.com and BlackWomenConnect.com; are social networking plays based off Moss Interactive’s Ning-like Connect Platform. We first reported on Gorilla Nation’s decision to go into the Multicultural Ad Network space back in August. While in the release GN reps did not comment specifically on this particular deal we were able to get more insight into the specifics from William Moss, Partner in Lee Moss Media:
“It is not a totally exclusive arrangement, so we will still be entertaining new business from our headquarters here in Columbus, Ohio and managing existing relationships with some of our advertising partners.”
Moss’ thoughts on if GN was the right way to go for them:
“…we need to keep our sales channels open and try new and different things when it comes to generating revenue, and Gorilla Nation has demonstrated that they flat out know how to sell. The African American space is somewhat new to them, but us being a small business, we’re not afraid to take risks and try new things. ”
Moss went on to say that he “think(s) this should signal a “look out” for others in our space since this was a deliberate move for us to focus on our product and deliver some cutting edge features and destinations for the African American community in the near future.”
I am personally interested in seeing the new enhancements Moss speaks of since the current UI of the collective sites are long over due for a redesign. No doubt that new kid on the block AlumniRoundUp’s strategy to use Ning as a platform to build various HBCU Alumni Networks has made Moss, once a monopoly in this space, take notice. Another interesting twist in the saga of who has the widest African-American reach among various verticals is Gorilla Nation’s strategy on who they decide who they rep. Is it a one-size fits all method or truly a premium play? The saga continues.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Are those numbers correct?
If you visit BlackNews.com advertise page, you will see differently… They claim the get well over 500,000 unique visitors per month…
http://www.blacknews.com/advertise2.html
Anyway, I see GN is going after many black sites… Is that good or bad in your eyes?
September 15th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
@blackadtalk: publishers will always have different numbers
About the write up: GN overstates their numbers and overstates the size and prowess of the people they rep. There were more ‘leader’s’ dropped in their original press release regarding the moss media stuff than in a certain Eric B and Rakim hit…and it definitely isnt the case at this time (no disrespect). I believe the original release even said they reach like 20m african americans online. If that was the case — they would have a lock on everything (total puffery).
GN has always been in black media for several years…..just more focusing on hip hop trendy sites.
This should be a signal for black sites to take control of our dollars and own our dollars. Eff majority owned networks in the black and hispanic space. Eff them all.