Wirecutter’s Path To $1 Billion In Commerce, One Product Review At A Time

When The New York Times bought Wirecutter back in 2016, the deal was about more than a simple acquisition of a product review site. The site would go on to become one of the first additions to the Times’ lifestyle portfolio that today stretches across cooking, games, and other fast-growing subscriber offerings. The Wirecutter deal, in other words, was just the beginning.

In the years that followed, the Times snapped up Serial Productions, The Athletic, and the viral word game Wordle, expanding its reach beyond traditional news. Nearly a decade later, Wirecutter itself has become a trusted authority on what and what not to buy — as well as a billion-dollar commerce engine within the Times portfolio.

The site drove more than $1 billion in gross merchandise value in both 2023 and 2024, underscoring the scale of its influence in online shopping. And days like today, with the kickoff of Amazon’s two-day fall shopping event Prime Big Deal Days, arguably put that influence on full display.

Wirecutter’s value to The New York Times

For shoppers on the hunt for bargains and early holiday deals, Wirecutter’s deals expert Nathan Burrow curated a roundup of the best deals, helping readers quickly zero in on the discounts they’re looking for.

“Wirecutter contributes significantly to the journalistic mission at the Times,” Wirecutter deputy publisher Cliff Levy told me in an interview. “It’s a different kind of journalism than hard news, but the mission is the same – to be the best in the business in every area we cover.”

The site, which reaches 15 million visitors each month, has a newsroom that now numbers 160 journalists who cover everything from outdoor gear to sustainability. After years of operating solely on affiliate revenue, Wirecutter also introduced advertising last year — a shift that’s proven so successful thus far, the site met its 2025 advertising goal by midyear. “We had a big hypothesis that the things that readers value mean that advertisers would really value Wirecutter,” Danielle Betras, Wirecutter’s newly named head of revenue, told me.

Hundreds of advertisers have now run campaigns across the site. “It’s a really wide group,” adds Betras, who was previously vice president of partnerships and portfolio development on the New York Times Advertising team. “The Times has had luxury advertisers, but they’re also advertising on Wirecutter, and they’re performing really well.

“Direct-to-consumer has been less of an obvious match for the Times as a news brand, but they are a match for Wirecutter, and we’re seeing them come to the platform as well … We’re seeing retailers and airlines, pharmaceuticals and telco. It’s really, really wide.

One of the site’s marquee partnerships has been with Google Shopping, a collaboration that’s included integrations during shopping windows like back-to-school season, where Wirecutter content featured Google’s “Shop Nearby” buttons to help parents and students find products in their local area. That kind of integration matters especially now, with the Prime Big Deal Days sale acting as a kickoff of sorts for the holiday shopping period.

Levy attributes Wirecutter’s success to the fact that it operates with the rigor of a newsroom while delivering like a commerce powerhouse — a commitment that shows up in the details. The site reviews air purifiers with the same intensity the Times applies to politics, and its new beauty vertical has already delivered record traffic. “When we launched skincare in the spring, it was one of the biggest non-holiday weeks of traffic in Wirecutter’s history,” Levy said.

“And again, that’s because our audience believes in us and trusts our journalists and our recommendations.”

With the holiday shopping season looming, meanwhile, Wirecutter is poised for another busy stretch. Last year, during the shopping window from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, Wirecutter’s leadership says the site reached seven million readers and saw double-digit growth in product clicks.

As things like AI and Google Search continue to upend the digital landscape, meanwhile, Levy remains confident in what sets Wirecutter apart. “I’m always thinking about: What is the climate, and what it takes to produce the best journalism and find revenue models that are rooted in our core values. Obviously, the landscape is changing a lot. But I’m really convinced that even as these changes are occurring, Wirecutter’s core values will endure.

“The product recommendation space often has some shady characters. That’s not who we are. We do not take money for reviews, we don’t do sponsored content … One of the secrets of Wirecutter is that we like to tell you what not to do. We don’t want you to waste your money, and that builds trust with our audience.”

Journalism and commerce, in other words, don’t have to be at odds. At Wirecutter, trust itself is part of the business model. Continues Levy: “Last year, we drove more than a billion dollars worth of commerce. To me, that’s a symbol of how much our audience appreciates the journalism and the work that Wirecutter does.”