Monday, October 16, 2017

The Newsweek network, part 6: The 33 Universal sites

33 Universal is the publisher of a variety of niche-interest websites  The company has a very "Marketing 101" feel to it, because each property is aimed at a different demographic.  And the company homepage (33Universal.com) appeals directly to advertisers:
"Highly-Related Brands" 
"Serving Loyal Consumer Audiences" 
"Reach Targeted Visitors Using High Impact Units and More"
In a 2014 essay on Medium, Ben Reeves described his experience working at IBTimes, and he said IBTimes "acquired" 33 Universal back in 2012.  Reeves didn't go into detail about which brands were part of the 33 Universal portfolio.  He only mentioned that there were 19 brands.  Of course, I wanted to figure out which brands are (or were) part of the 33 Universal portfolio.

One strategy would have been to look at the domains that used "info@33universal.com" as their administrative or registrant contact address.  The drawback with that strategy is that it could result in false positives.  For instance, TechTimes.com (profiled in Part 1) used "info@33universal.com" as its admin e-mail address in early 2013, but I don't think the website officially launched until the fall of 2013, which was after Tech Times LLC was formed.  Another website that used "info@33universal.com" was ChesterCo.com, which is the homepage for a construction company in upstate New York.  Clearly, a construction company is not the same thing as a niche-interest news site.

Instead, I looked at archived pages of 33Universal.com and copied down the exact URLs from the "Properties" page as well as from the homepage.



Two of the sites were already mentioned in Part 2:  DesignNTrend.com and FashionNStyle.com (as part of Fashion Times LLC).  Another site was mentioned in Part 3:  Latinospost.com (as part of Latin Post Company LLC).

Here are the 21 others:

1. AutoWorldNews.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 750, San Francisco.

2. BooksNReview.com -- The "Featured Articles" on the homepage are from December, 2016.  However, the site's archives are packed with hundreds of posts from 2017 containing Amazon links.

3. CounselHeal.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is 30 Broad Street,14th Floor.

4. FoodNRecipe.com  -- The articles on the homepage are from September, 2012.  The address on the Contact page is: 7 Hanover Square, 6th Floor, New York.

5. FoodWorldNews.com -- Articles on the homepage are from May, 2016, however the archives contain SEO articles on various topics.  The articles on FoodWorldNews.com are embedded with videos from Vuuo, which is a video-hosting platform created in 2015.  When I checked these sites last month, every single "Vuuo" video played a short ad for Joy, the 2015 movie starring Jennifer Lawrence.  It was like entering a time warp.  But as of yesterday, the Vuuo boxes were glitching, and they all showed a static screenshot from Selena Gomez's music video "Bad Liar."

6. FranchiseHerald.com -- Articles on the homepage are from February, 2017, and they are embedded with Vuuo boxes.  The address on the contact page is: 1133 Broadway, New York.  Franchise Herald is partners with Uwannit, which is a commerce site filled with links to Amazon.com products.  The archives section contains a bunch of SEO articles.     

7. GamenGuide.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 115 E 57th Street, 11th Floor, New York City.

8. HNGN.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the About page is: 40 Wall Street, Flr 28, New York.

9. JobsNHire.com -- No updates since March, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 1350 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York City.

10. LawyerHerald.com -- No updates since April, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 40 Wall St., New York, NY 10005

11. MobileNApps.com -- No updates since May, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 30 Broad Street, 14th Floor, New York.

12. MomIsBest.com -- Defunct site.

13. NatureNPlanet.com  -- Defunct site.  The address on an archived Contact page from 2012 was 33 Whitehall Street, 7th Floor New York.

14. NatureWorldNews.com -- No updates since September, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 1441 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York City.

15. ParentHerald.com -- No updates since May, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 1441 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York City.

16. RealEstateNNews.com -- Defunct site.  In 2012, the URL would automatically redirect to iRealtyTimes.com.

17. ScienceNReview.com -- Defunct site.  From 2012 to 2014, the URL would automatically redirect to ScienceWorldReport.com.

18. ScienceWorldReport.com -- No updates since July, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is 1350 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York City.

19. SportsWorldReport.com -- Articles in the "Latest News" section are from January, 2017, however the Archives section contains several SEO articles--some posted as recently as September.  The articles on SportsWorldReport.com are embedded with Vuuo boxes.  Furthermore, the posts in the "Latest News" section just consist of short excerpts taken from other news sites, followed by a link to the full article:

















20. TravelersToday.com -- No updates since June, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 750, San Francisco.

21. UniversityDailyNews.com -- Defunct site.  The address from a Contact page in 2012 was 33 Whitehall street, 7th Floor, New York.  In 2013 and 2014, the URL would automatically redirect to UniversityHerald.com.

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