And fyi: the online audience of a magazine is normally younger than the actual title. So the visitors of Essence.com and the readers/subscribers are not necessarily one in the same. They have their own formula for what increases their uniques and it works for them. At its core it is very different from Clutch, my site, AMBERmag.com, Hello Beautiful, Honeymag.com, and the over 100 different blogs and sites that exist for this audience. And we couldn't be more pleased with the diversity.

Agreed, the audience for Essence and Honey is different. The reason Essence was used was because it is one of the largest (if not the largest) website specifically targeting African-American women, by audience. Had another website been used the number would have been much lower. Take another look at the post and keep in mind that the actual number used was 1.5 million, the largest audience Honey ever attracted to its print publication. Essence was just a comparison used because, again, it is one of the largest out there according to available information.

Also, it is agreed that Interactive One has a lot that it is managing and businesses that it is just starting, so the discomfort with using its profits as a comparison is understood. However, if you take a closer look at posting, only revenue was considered for Interactive One in its calculation, because it is one of the larger African-American sites on the web by revenue. Had the profit margin for Interactive One been used, the resulting estimate for Honey would have actually been lower (much lower). The profit margin used in the actual calculation was that of myspace, a business has been around for a while.

Regardless of whether the comparison is fair, the calculation still assumes that Honey would start off with a 20% profit margin out of the gate and continue to maintain that kind of margin regardless of whatever challenges it faces. In reality, startups are often given 2-5 years time to even reach profitability, and lose money until then. Again, had the likelihood for starting the first few years losing money been considered, the numbers in the posting would have actually been lower.

The calculation was actually an attempt to be optimistic and give Honey the benefit of the doubt based on information available. Based on what information is available, the only way it seems that Honey could actually do better is to gain more income per visitor than the best of its predecessors, which would likely require a creative or very efficient business model. It’s yet to be determined what that business model is, or if it is even there.

Having worked with Shanel, I think she’s got what it takes to make the site’s editorial appeal to all the women of color who are currently under served in the media space. She’s got eclectic tastes, a keen eye for fashion and music, and the drive to seek out excellent contributors and to arrange for interesting cross-platform initiatives. Now, I can’t speak on Sahara’s business plan or exactly what features the site will have, but I’m hoping for the best.

One last thing: The Radio One/Interactive One reference also doesn’t add much weight in terms of the argument that HoneyMag.com won’t recoup its investment (or see gains in the end). For one, Interactive One encompasses so many properties — HelloBeautiful.com, TheUrbanDaily.com, MiGente.com, BlackPlanet.com, NewsOne.com, etc., etc., and most of these (barring MG and BP) were launched in the last year to year and a half, so they’re just starting to gain momentum. We can’t really make any sound judgments about black online media based on these sites’ profit margins just yet.

My two cents…