Scarborough is the research firm that regularly and independently surveys the Richmond market (from which many of the local sales folks use numbers and demographics for their sales pitches and media comparisons). The company’s also reporting Web site traffic.

The Release 2 2007 survey lists the unique users to visit these sites in November 2007 (I’ll see if I can find more updated numbers):

Richmond T-D 199,044
Style Weekly 182,382
NBC 12 171,999
WTVR 79,409
Richmond.com 76,034
WRIC 70,202

Thanks, Chris! Style Weekly has not been sold. Earlier this year, the parent company (Norfolk-based Landmark, which is privately owned) announced it was considering a sale.

What you may be thinking of is this: Half of the company, the Weather Channel, was sold to NBC/Universal for several billion dollars earlier this year. The other half, the publishing half, is still owned by Landmark. Style is part of Targeted + Media, which is owned by Landmark.

J

And yes, I know that sucks but that is just how it is.

I heard Style Weekly has been sold as well though I have no idea who bought them. Hopefully, Jason (or anyone at Style) will fill us in with that information. I’ve heard people talk a whole lot of feces about them in the past which I never fully understand. I like Style. I hope whoever paid the cold hard cash for the publication does too.

Just look at MGs track record. They took Brick Weekly, a great concept that was full of potential, and turned it into an ad rag that’s now the laughing stock of the local media world. Read all about it – Team Brick gets their chests waxed (that’s no joke either, that was a front page story) and sells restaurant reviews to the highest bidder. So what will they do to Richmond.com? Take the name, the good contract money, and the same idiots who screwed up Brick and turned inrich into the piece of crap that it is today (what’s the stupid mashup crap, does anyone write anymore?) are going to take their brand of stupid and try to extend it to the “new” inrich called Richmond.com. And then they’ll probably fire the 6 people (according to RTD) they kept around to keep it up and running while they figured out the merger.

It’s a sad day for independent media. It’s up to style and rvanews to keep indie media and good content alive. Clearly with all the money, resources, and power that MG has they’ve never been able to figure out how to run a successful alternative weekly or website (and so they blame the product not the people), so it’s a great time for style and rvanews and a sad day for Richmond.com. Bye Richmond.com, you will be missed.

FUCK YEAH.

Ross — draw a line, 86 that shit.