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Andrew Sullivan raises over $100,000 for ad-free blog in first six hours

Andrew Sullivan raises over $100,000 for ad-free blog in first six hours

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Shortly after announcing that he would be leaving The Daily Beast and moving to a purely subscription-based business model, blogger Andrew Sullivan says he has seen "amazing" results. "We’re well into the six figures," he tells TechCrunch. Sullivan estimates that in the roughly half-day since he made his announcement, about a third of the people who paid for a subscription to The Dish have given more than the $19.99 per year minimum; while the earliest subscribers are likely to be the most enthusiastic, that's still good news.

As in his original post, Sullivan reiterated his belief that ads, which will not be part of his revamped site, exert a pernicious influence over journalism, whether overt or subtle. "You find yourself trying to create pageviews that don’t really have any editorial basis," he says. At the same time, he's circumspect about declaring victory too soon, especially since early results aren't necessarily an indicator of long-term success. "We don’t know if it’s even going to work for us yet, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves," he says when asked about whether other blogs could replicate the model. Sullivan will move his seven-person operation to an independent site starting February 1st; it will offer some free articles and what he calls a "meter" to ask users to subscribe after a certain point.