More on 'Adweek': no layoffs, not a lotta traffic

So, you probably heard by now that Nielsen Business Media laid off a bunch yesterday—around 50 people, though the company isn't confirming the specifics. I was more or less out of pocket yesterday and not up to my usual spelunking to find out more. Here's what I've heard, none of which Nielsen would confirm—there were no editorial layoffs at Adweek and Mediaweek, at least one at Brandweek and the Web editor's job at Editor & Publisher. (That was reported yesterday by Mediabistro's Fishbowl NY.) In addition, no open positions will be filled with one exception: the Adweek editor's post, which Alison Fahey is expected to vacate soon for a publisher/editorial director's role at Adweek magazine.

Given the news out of my former employer yesterday, it seemed a good time to see how the Adweek.com relaunch—which was unveiled on Feb. 4—has been going, so I checked in with Compete.com and Alexa to see what traffic they were reporting. What I found was troubling. The flat-to-down results are below, with Ad Age used as a comparison (granted that brand's mission is larger than Adweek's is, but the graphs look a little naked alone).

Here's what Compete.com has to stay on traffic over the last year:



And from Alexa over the last three months:












Whatever source you use, you'd expect to see a bump there, wouldn't you? Through a spokesperson, Sabrina Crow, who heads the marketing and media books, said, "For us in terms of the success of the launch, we were up in revenue and up in online subscriptions ... those are the metrics that count for us."

The skinny on that Adweek editorial job

I was away skiing on Friday when some saw this intriguing headline on Gawker: "'Adweek' Seeks Slightly Less Loathed Editor." I'm here to tell ya it ain't quite what it seems. According to the job spec, "The ideal candidate will play an important role in working with the senior management team, including Alison Fahey, who has moved into a general management role." Sabrina Crow, senior vp at Nielsen Business Media, and Fahey's boss, confirmed to me that Fahey will continue to be involved with the new editor and that Cheyenne Group is handling the search.