MSE Bought By MoneySupermarket

[loquax]

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Wow....

MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

[Steven-AS]

Wow indeed. Be interesting to see where things go from here.

[lowndsy]

MSE is hardly a shining light in terms of of transparency, so I would imagine Moneysupermarkets involvement will probably force commercial activity to be made much more obvious, and stop some of the practices that have had the industry worried over the years.

A good move for Money Supermarket and potentially for consumers, I'd say.

[saxon68]

"by agreeing the Editorial Code, which ensures our content can proudly remain editorially independent and free from commercial considerations"

Snigger@

[spunko2010]

At least this announcement shows how much he's been earning. I have wondered about the figures for years, now we all know (he wound up the Ltd company and became a sole trader to mask the figures apparently)

Gotta love the eejits questioning if this will make the website "biased" (as if it wasn't already completely biased). I don't agree with Martin's tactics at all, being a commercial enterprise he shouldn't tout himself out some sort of quasi-charity for the poor. He is there to make money and his site is clearly commercial in nature. Donating £10m of £87m to charities is respectable, but certainly doesn't hide the fact you aren't a charity.


The Editorial Code is a load of bollocks, but most people on his Forums won't see past it. I suppose he should be applauded for such a huge con trick... Convincing the financially ignorant that he is on their side whilst flogging them products on the sly.

[allthediscounts]

I agree totally with the previous comments. He's certainly played the game suckering people into believing the site merely existed for the good of mankind. But to be fair we knew it was a load of bollocks - he's a journalist for god sake!

[jezza101]

At least this announcement shows how much he's been earning.

I used to work for a site that handed over a hefty cheque to MSE each month. I think his genius was to portray his site as some kind of charity. I don't think people ever really appreciated just how much he was making.

By the sounds of it things will be very much "business as usual".

But then they would say that wouldn't they...

[Iskander]

The Editorial Code is a load of bollocks, but most people on his Forums won't see past it. I suppose he should be applauded for such a huge con trick... Convincing the financially ignorant that he is on their side whilst flogging them products on the sly.

I agree totally with the previous comments. He's certainly played the game suckering people into believing the site merely existed for the good of mankind. But to be fair we knew it was a load of bollocks - he's a journalist for god sake!

I'm not sure I quite understand all the vitriol again Martin Lewis. I'm not a fan of him personally, but I do think - and I've thought for nearly 9 years now - that consumer-advocacy journalism a la Which? is a very good fit for the Digital Performance Publishing sector.

It's emphasised too rarely that not all who work in Affiliate Marketing are marketeers. I'm not.

[alphawave]

I'm not sure I quite understand all the vitriol again Martin Lewis. I'm not a fan of him personally, but I do think - and I've thought for nearly 9 years now - that consumer-advocacy journalism a la Which? is a very good fit for the Digital Performance Publishing sector.

It's emphasised too rarely that not all who work in Affiliate Marketing are marketeers. I'm not.

I agree, I see a lot of pages on his site which don't make him any money and are very useful to the consumer. For example, the stuff about MOT's have no affiliate links but are well researched and really useful.

He also says his advice is giving the consumer the best deal and not what pays him the most and I believe that. Let's face it, many do agree otherwise he wouldn't have so many links pointing to his site. It's a useful resource and other affiliates don't seem to like that.

[opensesame]

Fair play to him I say, isn't it every brands dream to make there audience believe they are looking after there best interests?

Look at Hotukdeals, I dont think most of there users realise they are travelling through a affiliate link, of course not because it runs on a crowd source system where members recommend to members.

Don't forget he is giving 10 mill to charity as well.

[shpr]

ditto with the "fair play"; he wins, the consumer wins - possibly not always best deals there, but most of the time it is & there's loads of useful tips....but could he ever have done it without all the "traditional" media exposure?

[Iskander]

Fair play to him I say, isn't it every brands dream to make there audience believe they are looking after there best interests?

You don't have to make your audience believe you're looking after their best interests if you are looking after their best interests.

It's true that a lot of (marketeer) affiliates operate Type A sites, promoting merchants and seeing those merchants (ie. their clients) as their primary constituency and their visitors as their secondary constituency.

But other (publisher) affiliates operate Type B sites, discussing merchants but seeing their readership as their primary constituency and merchants as their secondary constituency.

Lewis showed himself to be a Type B Affiliate par excellence.

but could he ever have done it without all the "traditional" media exposure?

You make a good point, shpr - it's true that Lewis had a lot of useful contacts in mainstream TV which certainly helped MSE a long way towards the success it achieved...

... but it's also worth mentioning that, as a Type B affiliate, you are, anyway, much more likely to get at least some coverage in the mainstream press precisely because your priority is imparting useful information and advice, not marketing.

[accelerator]

Personally I've always been a fan of Martin Lewis and think he has offered some good content on his website. He has been a consumer champion for many, and he's good at making finance sound interesting. Hopefully his good work will continue after this sale.

Rgds

[stilettolimited]

You don't have to make your audience believe you're looking after their best interests if you are looking after their best interests.

It's true that a lot of (marketeer) affiliates operate Type A sites, promoting merchants and seeing those merchants (ie. their clients) as their primary constituency and their visitors as their secondary constituency.

But other (publisher) affiliates operate Type B sites, discussing merchants but seeing their readership as their primary constituency and merchants as their secondary constituency.

Lewis showed himself to be a Type B Affiliate par excellence.

I think Martin Lewis was a Type A affiliate pretending to be a Type B affiliate.

[smith333]

I'm no expert but looking at the MSE site, I wrongly thought he hardly made any money.
When he appeared on tv, the tv presenters, most of them had a smirk and I felt sorry for him.

I have found his site useful and better than many.
He said he is giving 10 mill to charity.

Good luck to him is all I can say.

Btw, I think his site was much better VFM that Facebook.