Last week, news emerged that NBCUniversal-owned DailyCandy and Television Without Pity are shutting down. Both are considered by some to be pioneers of an all but forgotten Internet era. The former was primarily an Internet newsletter in its early days, and the latter was a place for people to discuss TV shows in a forum setting.
A “short goodbye” on Daily Candy says:
Dear cherished reader,
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we write today to say goodbye. After fourteen years delivering you the best in food, fashion, and fun, this train, as they say, is pulling into the station.
Rest assured that every single day that we have published DailyCandy, we have done so with delight.
Our mission was always to charm and inform you, whether telling you about an innovative new restaurant in Brooklyn, a trendy boutique in Chicago’s Gold Coast, or a groundbreaking San Fran band. Through the years, nothing made us happier than helping an emerging designer from West Hollywood find her audience or hearing that after we featured an attorney from Philly she quit her job to make brownies full-time.
But all good things must come to an end. And this, friends, is ours. On April 4, we will close our doors.
It’s been the ride of our lives, and we have loved sharing it with you.
Yours,
DailyCandy
An even shorter one on Television Without Pity says:
TWOP will cease operations on April 4, but our forums will remain open till May 31. Thank you for your support over the years.
It appears that the sites were victims of the modern social Internet era. Kara Swisher reported on the closures, saying they just weren’t getting enough traffic, making them difficult to monetize. Competition has just been far too great as more sites and services have emerged over the years. 64 employees, with all but three at DailyCandy, are out of a job, says Swisher, who adds that they might be offered jobs at other NBCU properties.
Doree Shafrir at BuzzFeed tells an interesting story about how influential and helpful both sites were, crediting DailyCandy with helping turn her own Tumblr into a success thanks to a feature in its email newsletter, which sent tons of traffic its way.
Shafrir calls it “the end of an era’.
As far as Television Without Pity is concerned, it’s not hard to see where such a site would have trouble competing with social media at large, where so much conversation around TV shows happenss in real time all day every day.
Image via DailyCandy
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