Gawker Media has spun off three of its lowest performing blogs, including award-winning political blog Wonkette, citing difficulty selling ads on those properties. Also leaving the Gawker fold are the travel-focused Gridskipper and the music blog Idolator.

"Why these three sites? To be blunt: they each had their editorial successes; but someone else will have better luck selling the advertising than we did," Gawker Chief Nick Denton said in an internal memo.

Gawker will still maintain a dozen other blogs, and the three that are parting ways represented only 3 percent of the network's total traffic. All three will continue to publish, albeit at new homes.

Wonkette has seen steady traffic during this election year and will become part of the Blogads network. Gridskipper will join the Curbed family, a network that Gawker owns a stake in. Idolator will join the music-themed social network Buzznet, which recently acquired Idolator’s rival blog, Stereogum.