Waterfront Media and Revolution Health have signed a definitive merger agreement. Waterfront’s Everyday Health Network will now include RevolutionHealth.com and the Revolution Health Network.
The combined company will include 24 online health properties, allowing advertisers to target consumers across the entire spectrum of health and wellness.
In December 2007, Revolution Health completed the acquisition of two burgeoning health websites: HealthTalk, a site focused on patients with chronic conditions, and SparkPeople, which offers diet and exercise plans as well as social networking functionality. Revolution sites include carepages.com and drugstore.com – the combined Network attracts more than 12 million unique visitors a month.
According to comScore, Everyday Health has more than 14 million unique users and some 80 million monthly page views. The combined company is expected to reach north of 20 million people and generate more than three billion page views annually.
At last count, its closest rival, WebMD, reported 48.4 million unique monthly users.
Steve Case, founder of Revolution (and co-founder of Internet dinosaur AOL) believes the consumer will be a key driver in the $2 trillion healthcare market. Said Case, “[the] segment is ripe for disruption.”
While WebMD pursures a more traditional publishing model, Case’s focus will remain user interaction.
Capturing and engaging a participatory audience of health-centric individuals could have huge payoff down the line. Competing technologies are becoming harder to differentiate; fostering a loyal user base is a key ingredient for long term success.
Previously: Revolution Health Takes on WebMD with User-Centric Focus