9.

 The Daily Beast

Estimated unique monthly visitors: 15,500,000

Year started: 2008

Estimated monthly revenue: n/a

Focusing on politics, pop culture and world news, The Daily Beast first started
running in 2008 and prides itself on delivering ‘award-winning original reporting
and sharp opinion from big personalities’, with a tendency to call out others’ BS.
Recognised by Nieman Lab as one of the fastest-growing news sites year-over-year
in 2015, The Daily Beast has continued its strong growth and shows no signs of
slowing down any time soon.

The lesson: Stick to your guns. Consistency, perseverance and telling the truth
usually pay out.

10. TechCrunch
Estimated unique monthly visitors: 15,000,000

Year started: 2005

Estimated monthly revenue: 2,500,000*

Covering technology and startup news, TechCrunch was originally founded by

journalists Michael Arrington and Keith Teare, and was acquired by AOL in 2010.
Today, the blog still maintains a loyal following and is also recognised for its
“Disrupt” conferences held in various locations each year.

Along with sharing industry news, the site now also boasts posts from a number of
respected industry leaders, and has maintained a reputation for being critical during
product reviews. A positive product post or review on TechCrunch is like striking
gold.  

The lesson: Don’t underestimate the value of thought leadership. And how much
people like to geek-out on tech news.  

11. Perez Hilton
Estimated unique monthly visitors: 14,500,000

Year started: 2005

Estimated monthly revenue: $575,000*

This controversial gossip website, run by Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., aka
‘Perez Hilton’, isn’t even at its height of popularity and is still coming in strong
with nearly 15,000,000 visitors a month. Similar to TMZ, the site shares
scandalous celebrity news and gossip, but with more personal (i.e. scathing)
commentary from Perez himself. The blogger and website have regularly come
under attack over the years for sharing controversial information, images and
videos that celebrities have claimed to be slanderous or illegally obtained.
However, this controversy, and Perez’s strong voice, have only fuelled the fire,
with millions of readers wanting a daily dose of the site.