INSIDE
THE CULT
thousand impressions), which
hinges on site-visitors’ locations.
Politico’s CPM outside D.C. is
$10-20, while within the Beltway, the company brings between
$50-60, depending on the timing
and location of the ads.
VandeHei noted that Politico is
geared toward a niche audience
and doesn’t have to continuously
grow traffic as do more general
interest sites that don’t command premium ad rates.
Four days later, in his office,
VandeHei touched upon this
theme, saying that while every site
hopes to grow traffic, it’s not the
most important thing for Politico.
“We’re not reliant on big traffic,” he said. “Our whole business
model is being indispensable to
this city, to people who do this
stuff professionally, to people
who are addicted to it.”
HUFFINGTON
06.24.12
VandeHei says that Politico is
“a niche play, and we’re dominating our niche,” adding “that’s
why we’re expanding into all
these different areas, always with
a focus on Washington.”
Traffic chatter bores him, he
says.
“I get a little bit weary when
people try to compare this to,
‘Oh, The New York Times has so
much more traffic than you or The
Huffington Post,” VandeHei says.
“Right, you guys have about forty
different sub-channels, you’re in
different countries, you’re covering
sports, you have pictures and girls
and all this stuff that generates a
lot of traffic. We do politics. That’s
what we do. We do policy.
That’s what we do.”
Rebecca Ballhaus provided
research assistance for this article.