The demise of USA Today's Reviewed is a tragedy
It's hard for product review sites right now, but we need to ask ourselves why that is.
BTTR is independent, but we may earn money when you purchase through links on our site.
A few years ago when I was at Finder, Amazon hosted an online webinar for its affiliates about maximising returns for big sale days like Prime Day and Black Friday.
It was a bit last minute for me, but I logged on to watch editors from CNN Underscored and USA Today's Reviewed to talk through how they approach product reviews and affiliate revenue.
It wasn't overly new information for me. But what I really took away from the experience was how large and broad the opportunity for affiliate websites really was. Indirectly, it probably even played a part in me deciding to try to launch BTTR.
So to read on The Verge that parent company Gannett is shuttering the Reviewed website from 1 November is terrible news.
As the owner/operator of a (much, much smaller) review site, I have many thoughts on this. While I feel that this particular situation is the result of a confluence of bad decisions and a tougher market, I feel that not enough blame will land at Google's feet here.
