The battle for data whiz Nate Silver, fought secretly and
aggressively by several of the nation’s top news executives for the better part
of a year, was won by ESPN and ABC News (both part of The Walt Disney Company).
According to Mike Allen at Politico, the 35-year-old Silver was promised extensive
air time, a role in the Oscars (airing on ABC through at least 2020), and a
digital empire that may include websites devoted to weather, education,
economics and other topics.
When it came to money, Silver was aggressive but not greedy,
according to people familiar with the negotiations. Instead, he was focused on
how he could expand the franchise he had built around FiveThirtyEight (the
total number of electoral votes).
FiveThirtyEight.com began as a standalone blog in 2008, and
became part of NYTimes.com in 2010 as part of a three-year licensing agreement
that ends next month.
“Silver’s blog has buoyed more than just the politics
coverage, becoming a significant traffic-driver for the site as a whole.
Earlier this year, approximately 1 percent of visits to the New York Times
included FiveThirtyEight. … Yesterday, it was 20 percent ,” according to Mark
Tracy at the New Republic
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