The New York Times has reported that Bill Simmons’s website, The Ringer, will be moving from Medium to Vox Media:
Mr. Simmons, a former ESPN personality, will keep ownership of The Ringer, but Vox will sell advertising for the site and share in the revenue. The Ringer will leave its current home on Medium, where it has been hosted since it began in June 2016.
Jim Bankoff, Vox’s chief executive, said in a phone interview that the partnership was the first of its type for the company and would allow it to expand its offerings to advertisers.
First, this seems like a pretty big hit to Medium as a publishing platform for bigger websites. Maybe Medium is just better suited for long-form writing for individuals that don’t want to set up their own blogs, and want something more professional looking than a Facebook note? Second, The Ringer needs to get a whole lot better to survive. The content just isn’t very good. The sportswriting and analysis is thin, the music reviews are mostly a joke, and the pop-culture pieces lack the bite or comedy of Grantland. The Ringer lacks an editorial identity and voice.