Believe It: Boom Time in Niche Media is Now; Mediabistro Sells for $23 Million....WallStrip Producer Explains the $5 Million Value Proposition for CBS..and More!

Wow, congratulations to Laurel Touby at Mediabistro for the sale of her company to Jupitermedia for $23 million.  Hot damn! Beet.TV wonders if her husband, Business Week marketing columnist and rock 'n roller Jon Fine will give up his day job? Hope to update you on this later today.

Update 8 a.m. EDT:  Jon Fine Tells Beet.TV he is staying with Business Week -- that's good news for all of us.

It's very exciting to see how Mediabistro carved out a niche untapped by mainstream media -- creating a meeting place for journalists and related professional to network and learn.  With TVNewser, Mediabistro created a indispensable blog about broadcast television.  Other blogs such as Fishbowl have become a must read for media junkies across the land.

PaidConten's Rafat Ali, a superstar in niche publishing himself, writes today that efforts by Laurel to sell Mediabistro were long stalled.  Patience is indeed a virtue.

Forbes had a very sobering story this week by Brian Caulfield about the paradox of a the boom in technology coupled with the downward spiral of business media.  However, Brian points out that independent, niche players will grow.  This is clear from the Mediabistro sale.

Also, the much ballyhooed sale of WallStrip to CBS for a reported $5 million, is indicative of how innovative media players can create value quickly.  My colleague Bambi Francisco has an interesting interview on Vator.TV with WallStrip producer Alan Eland who explains the value the show brings to CBS.

Exciting times, indeed.

-- Andy Plesser

Mediapost, Laurel Touby, Jupitermedia, Jon Fine, Wallstrip, CBS