• by Sara Guaglione , September 13, 2017

The New York Times Company has combined its product review and recommendation sites The Wirecutter and The Sweethome under one united brand. It has also created a new product and ventures team.

The rebrand, which will go into effect in October, will drop “The” from both titles and be known going forward as simply Wirecutter.

The change comes nearly a year after The Wirecutter, a gadget review site, and The Sweethome, its sister home appliance review site, were acquired by The New York Times Company (NYTCO) for more than $30 million, as a bid to supplement other revenues streams, such as subscriptions and advertising.

The Wirecutter makes money by recommending products and embedding links for readers to buy those products on e-commerce sites like Amazon, and taking a cut once a reader completes a purchase.

Since last October, The Wirecutter has nearly doubled its staff and has grown its number of product recommendations by 40%.

The site has expanded into new product categories as well, such as kids and babies, pets, outdoors, health tech, business software, small office and travel. These additions have seen The Wirecutter’s sales increase 50% from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg report.

“In creating a single brand and destination across all the major things our readers think about buying, we believe we can make Wirecutter to product reviews what the The Times is to news and information, becoming the brand that is known for being the most trusted, independent and definitive source,” stated David Perpich, president and general manager of Wirecutter.

Wirecutter will get a redesigned site next month, with a new logo, colors and fonts, and a mobile-first user experience. The site will have a single column design and more emphasis on deals for recommended products.

NYTCO says Wirecutter readers will continue to see even more collaborations between NYT journalism and Wirecutter’s recommendations going forward.

The company also announced the creation of a products and ventures team, led by Alex MacCallum, previously assistant managing editor for video. The team will oversee NYTCO’s popular verticals, like Crosswords and Cooking, as well as other opportunities that are part of the NYT, but not its “core digital experience.”

Additionally, Alex Rainert has been named head of product and design. He will lead the teams responsible for translating the newspaper'sjournalism into digital products and experiences. Matthew Ericson and Ben French are also joining the team.

Meredith Kopit Levien, NYTCO executive vice president and COO, stated: “These organizational changes represent important steps toward realizing our goal of reaching $800 million in digital revenue by 2020.”