Lucido, chief executive of Intermarkets Inc., says there are now as many as 1,000 advertisers on the Drudge Report at any given time, including such mainstream media outlets as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Lucido calls Drudge the big kahuna of an online client roster consisting mostly of conservative websites, including that of controversial commentator Ann Coulter. He won't talk about Drudge's income other than to say, "He's done well by us and vice versa."
But here's a clue: Gone is the cramped Hollywood apartment and the little Geo Metro that Drudge used to drive around town. He now lives and works in a $1-million-plus condominium in Miami's super-sleek Four Seasons hotel, "where civilized living reaches its highest form of expression," according to a sales pitch for the residences.
The luxury condos are located on the upper floors of the 70-story building, the tallest in Florida, and offer a dazzling view of Biscayne Bay through floor-to-ceiling windows. Live-ins like Drudge have full access to the hotel's amenities, including a 50,000-square-foot spa and sports club, three pools and daily maid service.
A Times reporter showed up at the hotel hoping to get a glimpse inside Drudge's posh base of operations, where he is said to have a bank of computers he scans. But the press-shy Drudge did not respond to the note slipped under his door by the concierge or to numerous phone calls and e-mails requesting an interview.
THE success of the Drudge Report rests in large part on an audience that comes back multiple times a day to catch up with breaking stories or check out the site's latest offbeat offerings, all presented with a tabloid sensibility befitting the retro "press" fedora Drudge wears in publicity shots. A link to a story on carnage in Iraq may coexist with a headline like this: "91 Feral Cats Kept by Woman in 2 Room Apartment in Boryspil, Ukraine."
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the Drudge Report received 3 million unique visits in June, with visitors spending an average of 1 hour and 6 minutes on the site. That's a lot of time clicking around, giving advertisers more opportunities to be seen. Nielsen/NetRating's measurements also show that visitors return an average of 20 times a month. Most newspaper websites would be fortunate to draw a quarter as many return visits.
Perhaps no one understands the Drudge Report's sway over this dedicated fan base better than Andrew Breitbart.
