“We were expecting to start slow and see if there was any appetite for this but it turns out we’re onto something big,” says Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer, “or so it seems. For now rewards will be once a week in NYC with multiple deals delivered at a time, some which we think will drive significant revenue and some which we think will be more about access to exclusive offerings that only Thrillist can secure (with our deep local relationships that have been built over the course of the last 5 years). Plus they’ll all be targeted to our guys, who we obviously know very, very well.”
With Thrillist Rewards, Lerer is moving his online media company more into commerce, a trend he first tried last year when he bought JackThreads, a group-buying site for dudes. Thrillist Rewards will bring deals from restaurants and retailers directly to the Thrillist audience. Thrillist typically takes a 30 to 50 percent cut of each deal. If it works out, Lerer will expand to other cities soon.

Authors: Erick Schonfeld