Thrillist, the email newsletter for dudes, acquired e-commerce startup JackThreads last year as a way to grow its revenues beyond advertising and sponsorships.
It's working.
JackThreads -- a sort of "Gilt Groupe for dudes" -- is now a 30-person operation, led by founder Jason Ross, who splits his time between New York, where Thrillist is based, and Columbus, OH, where JackThreads is based.
JackThreads is growing about 20% month-over-month, Ross tells us, and now has 600,000 members, up from about 150,000 when it joined with Thrillist last summer.
And the site's gross revenues could reach $15 million to $20 million this year, we hear.
That suggests that Thrillist's e-commerce business could eventually -- perhaps within a year or two -- become bigger than its advertising and sponsorship business.
A good deal, indeed.
And precisely why many media companies will be looking at members-only deals (à la Gilt Groupe) or local deals (à la Groupon) to drive new business. In Thrillist's case, it's doing both.
