Turntables, tumblers and telescopes. A year after its $30 million acquisition of review sites The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, The New York Times Company combines the two popular sites and relaunches them as a unified, mobile-first site, Wirecutter, accessible at TheWirecutter.com. With a new logo, colors and fonts, Wirecutter’s features a single column design and brings all their reviews on everything from biking gear and electronics to office furniture and baby products. Past content and more than 62,000 reader comments are being transferred to the new site.

‘With The New York Times Company powering our efforts, we realized that the best way to help our readers is to combine all of our coverage into a single site in order to find high-quality reviews on the things they need,’ wrote editor-in-chief Jacqui Cheng and her executive editors.

‘We don’t want you to have to think about which site to go to in order to find running gear, or waste time thinking about where our recommendations can be found for learning & STEM toys. The existing guides that you’ve come to know haven’t gone away-you’ll be able to find them all right here, with plenty of new ones as well,’ they said.

In a letter to readers, The Wirecutter team said the new site resulted from months of research, design and conversations with readers. The new design is centered on three primary areas:

• Focused on product picks. Consumers go to Wirecutter for reviews, so the design team tried to weed out the clutter, so finding content is easier.
• A reimagined design. Originally, Wirecutter did electronic reviews, but has added additional content in a range of topics including cooking, outdoor gear and baby products. The new site features improved navigation, colors, fonts and visual cues.
• Improved performance. The new site offers a mobile-first experience, so pages are quick to load. They’ve also upgraded their security protocols, so the new site is ‘faster, stronger and more secure.’

Wirecutter specializes in reviewing a range of consumer products, earning commissions off embedded affiliate links within the reviews. The New York Times Company acquired the sites in October 2016 to diversify its assets and add a new revenue stream. At the time of the purchase, there was concern about a conflict of interest between a publisher known for high-quality journalism and review sites that generate revenue indirectly from products they write about. Sensitive to these concerns, The New York Times Company has tried to be transparent about the relationship. This banner appears at the top of the ‘Letter from the Wirecutter Team‘ page.

The executive editorial team also addresses this in their explanation of the new design.

‘What differentiates Wirecutter from other review sites is the rigor of our review process, the transparency we provide to our readers about that process, and our reader-centric, useful approach to recommendations. The most important thing to us is not to only practice those values when it comes to home and tech, but to hit those values consistently no matter what topic our crack team of researchers, testers, reporters, and just plain curious staffers put their minds to,’ Cheng and her executive editors said.

Additional changes will be coming to the site, including the continued migration of content, but the official relaunch occurred on October 5.

‘While any changes can be unsettling, change is also necessary for us to bring you the best work done by our team of researchers, reporters and curious people like yourself,’ the team said. ‘We are proud of the new website and excited to welcome you to it.’

In a press release, The New York Times Co. said Wirecutter has nearly doubled its staff in the last year, and has grown the number of product recommendations by about 40 percent. The company said the new design is part of Wirecutter’s strategy to become the ‘go to’ source for choosing the best products and services across a range of categories including electronics, health and fitness, babies and kids, outdoors, office, travel, home and garden, pets and more.

Insider Take:

I was skeptical of the acquisition when it was first made, concerned about the blurring line between true editorial content and product recommendations with affiliate links. However, Wirecutter and The New York Times Company have addressed this with attention to the transparency issue.

From a business model perspective, the review websites are a smart business move for The New York Times Company, helping them to diversify their assets that are not dependent on subscriptions or advertising for support. The company is already reaping the benefits. In its second quarter financials, The New York Times Company reported a 12.8 percent increase in ‘other revenue,’ primarily from affiliate revenue from The Wirecutter and The Sweet Home. The new, all-in-one website will likely contribute to future growth.