It would be unrealistic to say the end is near for TMZ.com, the gossip website founded by Harvey Levin that Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade put on the map. But all signs are pointing to trouble for the AOL-Telepictures celebrity venture. Readership is down. So is revenue. Top staffers are leaving. The spin-off show TMZ has lost its buzz. And TMZ.com just saw People.com overtake it for the No. 2 spot of most-visited celebrity websites (Yahoo's OMG is No. 1, thanks to all of the search giant's traffic dumping).
Oh, and that's on top of growing backlash within the gossip industry, as competing mainstream tabloid outlets, bloggers, and (we suspect, if traffic levels are any indication) readers are growing increasingly disgusted for what qualifies as "content" on the site.
Has TMZ already hit its peak — and started snowballing toward implosion? From numerous conversations with TMZ insiders, Levin confidantes, industry players, and fellow bloggers, the answer is a resounding "yes."
Editor
A gossip site reporting about another gossip site as gossip "news."
Postmodernism is wonderful, que no?
I'd be glad to see TMZ go tits-up. It's mean without being funny, sleazy without being entertaining.
…obnoxious without being witty, juvenile without being smart, banal without being avant-garde…
…popular without being charismatic…
Oh no where will i now go to see celebrities eating hotdogs on the street? and am i not entitled as a human being to live feed at a dead celebrities funeral?! what is the world comeing to?
Traffic dumping does not sound very sexy. . . .
where will i go to see celebrities getting into their cars now?!?
Thank. God.
TMZ is so worthless for their 'news'. I don't care if celebrities get pissed at paps when they're coming out of nightclubs–it's just not news. Every drunk gets pissed at people who get in their way. May this be the beginning of the end.
for whatever it's worth, whenever a breaking entertainment news item unfolds (Britney's police escort meltdown, Travis Barker's plane crash), I always go to TMZ because they seem to be first with the updates. That show is unwatchable however. Seizure-inducing.
TMZ is so 2007.
who will give a shit about john mayer's self-serving speeches now?
This article makes about as much sense as the main stream journalists reporting that people are angry that journalists dont report about the issues, and then journalists dont report on the issues. Then they write articles about how people are angry that journalists didnt write about the issues, but they still dont write about the issues. Then they write articles about how the old news outlets are losing money because people are going to bloggers to get the the issues, and journalists still dont write about the issues. I think journalists have issues.
Why is he always drinking? And what is the purpose of writing names on his little board? The show is stupid. And the guy with the long blond hair needs a comb.
I can not go to sleep without my Harvey and surfer dude!!! I love them so much!