VinePair Rebuilds Revenue After 25% Post-Covid Slump

By: Christiana Sciaudone

VinePair hit record revenue of $10 million in 2022 as sales of wine and spirits jumped while much of the world drank its way through Covid-19.

When the pandemic ended, so too did the booze boon, and the drinks platform for consumers and tradespeople whose fortunes rose along with those of vintners and distillers ended up with a nasty hangover it’s still trying to shake off. The site is expecting an estimated 25% drop in revenue for 2024 from the peak.

Now, the publisher is looking at fresh ways to boost revenue, including a subscription newsletter in the food and beverage trade that’s coming in 2025.

“Growth is us continuing to grow the revenue, to figure out new ways to diversify,” Co-Founder Adam Teeter told AMO. “This year for us has probably been as challenging as it has everyone for else…. Advertising pulled back.”

VinePair’s plight is proof that even those publishers in the nichiest niche aren’t completely insulated when the advertising dollar tap runs dry. High interest rates in the U.S. and a slowdown in China – especially in the case of luxury goods like high-end beverages – are among the reasons marketers of all stripes have become more conservative.

Ads, Subs, Commerce

The year didn’t start out too badly. VinePair, which has the world’s biggest drinks companies advertising on their properties, were having conversations with them at “big seven figure commitments.” Then they started cutting budgets, afraid of the anti-alcohol movement that has gained traction—a campaign that Teeter said doesn’t appear at all in data. “But we really do see a huge Covid hangover where there’s a lot of products still in retail.”

Enter the new subscription product, which is slated to come out in March. The publication has hesitated to add a subscription service because its offerings cater to both those in the trade and consumers. They also hold an awards program naming the best sommelier, bartender, winery, etc, once a year.

“Those types of things, you can’t really pay wall, right? It’s very hard to pay wall and have a really robust business, it’s better to sell advertising against it,” Teeter said. “But when you start talking about what kind of information can you give to people that is essential for them doing their jobs, that’s a very different thing. And that’s kind of what we’re looking at this other venture.”

VinePair once also sold drink accessories alongside its media offerings but they shut that business down to keep their journalistic credibility up. And, like so many other publishers this year, they’ve seen less and less traffic from Google. Teeter’s not too worried about it, though.

“We have established ourselves as thought leaders in the beverage category,” he said. “Obviously we’re always going to be concerned about Google. I think you have to be. We’re pretty good about trying to adapt when there are updates. But yeah, it’s more about being a thought leader.”

That’s also translated to brands looking for more thoughtful ad campaigns, and Teeter is hopeful that means marketers will stop chasing scale and start appreciating quality.

Events

VinePair, which has a staff of 27, also puts on profitable events and makes sure to wrap advertising across its products, from events to podcasts to newsletters. Advice he got when he started the business in 2014: “The only events you should ever do are events in which you’ve already secured an advertiser that basically is paying for the whole freaking event. And then you can choose whether or not you want to sweeten the pot by selling tickets.”

“That has been invaluable advice, because I have seen so many other media companies almost bankrupt themselves with events where it’s like, well, we have this huge audience. Why don’t we do a food festival? And then you commit to it already, you secure the space, etc, and then you’re scrambling to convince Charmin to be your official toilet paper provider. That kind of event I still am very wary of as a media founder, like, I’m not an events company, right? I’m not in the true events business. I’m in the events business as an extension of media advertising.”

The publisher holds events in its own office space, where it has a bar, and that has been lucrative for them to tie into ad deals.

VinePair took $2 million when it first started out from angel investors and has been profitable for the past eight years. Teeter said he is loath to raise additional funds.

“The only way for media to be sustainable is to grow in a very responsible way,” he said. “You grow in the way that you pay for what you can afford, if that makes sense, and what you’ve earned.”

In terms of the ad market, Teeter expects a rebound in 2025 as retailers finally unload that Covid stock.

“I’m pretty confident with that we will grow back to being a $10-million plus revenue business in 2025, 2026,” he said.