Vice Media
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | media & entertainment industry  |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | 204 - 99 North 10th Street, Brooklyn,, NY, 11211 US |
Key people | Shane Smith, CEO Andrew Creighton, President Suroosh Alvi, Co-Founder Eddy Moretti, Chief Creative Officer |
| Products | Magazine, |
| Website | www.vice.com |
VICE Media, Inc. is youth media company and digital content creation studio operating in 36 countries and producing and distributing video and editorial content for all screens. VICE launched in 1994 as a punk magazine but has recently expanded into a multimedia network, including the website VICE.COM; an international network of digital channels; a television & feature film production studio; a magazine; a record label; and a book-publishing division.
VICE’s digital channels include VICE Sports, a sports channel; MUNCHIES, a food channel; VICE News, a dedicated news channel; Noisey, a music discovery channel; The Creators Project, dedicated to the arts and creativity; Motherboard, covering cultural happenings in technology; THUMP, focusing on global dance music and culture; and Fightland, a channel dedicated to the culture of MMA, i-D, a video-driven fashion site.
History
Established by Suroosh Alvi, Shane Smith, and Gavin McInnes, the magazine was launched in October 1994 as the Voice of Montreal with government funding to cover music, trends and drug culture not covered in print.
The three changed the name to Vice in 1996, and as the magazine became increasingly popular, moved to New York City in 1999, and permanently set up shop in Williamsburg in 2001. The magazine continued to get attention and readership due to it provocative content, commentary, and contributions from the likes of Terry Richardson, Ryan McGinley and others. The magazine then began expanding internationally, with Andrew Creighton and Andy Capper co-founding the UK division of Vice. The magazine then expanded further into all 5 continents.
In 2006, on the advice from the company’s creative director Spike Jonze, VICE began expanding into digital video, launching VBS.tv, a new video-focused web-only video channel. VBS gained a fan base with shows like “The VICE Guide To Travel,” “Epicly Later’d,” and “Toxic.” The documentaries on the channel featured unusual subjects, and were hosted by young people working at VICE, often by the founders themselves.
In 2006, co-founder Gavin McInnes left VICE due to creative differences with the company, and co-founded an advertising agency, where he has since been terminated for expressing a pattern of racist and sexist remarks.[1]
In 2007, VICE began aggressively expanding its digital video operation, launching new channels, such as Motherboard (tech), Noisey (music), and The Creators Project, an arts/tech site founded in partnership with Intel. VICE later would launch sites around EDM culture (Thump), global news (VICE News), food (Munchies) and sports (VICE Sports). Additionally, VICE launched Virtue Worldwide, a creative services agency, to expand their capabilities for branded work and creative around their platforms. In 2012, VICE continued to expand its coverage focused around news and current events.
In mid-August 2013, 21st Century Fox invested US$70 million in Vice Media, resulting in a 5 percent stake. Following the announcement, Smith explained, "We have set ourselves up to build a global platform but we have maintained control."[2]
In 2013 VICE premiered a new 30-minute news program for HBO titled VICE, executive produced by Bill Maher. In 2014, the second season of the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series or Special.[3]
In 2014, VICE launched its news channel, VICE News, which almost immediately gained global attention for its coverage of protests and conflict in the Ukraine and Venezuela. As of October 2014, the leader of BBC’s Newsdesk claimed the organization was “playing catch-up” to VICE News.[4]
VICE has routinely advocated for their “immersionist” brand of journalism in the pursuit of more authentic and interesting stories. Their founders and editors have regularly garnered controversy from the likes of the New York Times’ David Carr, who bristled in an exchange with Shane Smith in the 2011 documentary “Page One” (in a 2014 Time column Carr said that VICE had since grown into a strong news entity).
In June 2014, it was reported that Time Warner was negotiating to acquire a minority stake in Vice Media; among the company's plans were to give Vice control over the programming of HLN—a spin-off network of CNN which had recently struggled in its attempts to re-focus itself as a younger-skewing, social media-oriented news service. However, the deal fell through as the companies were unable to agree on a proper valuation[5], and VICE chose to partner with A&E Networks — a joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company, for a 10% minority stake in Vice Media for $250 million[6], keeping VICE independent.
Channels
- Website
- VICE News - dedicated news channel
- Noisey - covering music
- The Creators Project - covering arts and creativity
- Motherboard - covering cultural happenings in technology
- i-D - video-driven fashion site
- MUNCHIES - a food channel
- VICE Sports - a sports channel
- THUMP - covering global dance and electronic music
- Fightland - covering the culture of MMA
YouTube Channels
References
- ^ Brydum, Sunnivie. "Gavin McInnes Pushed Out of Ad Agency While Defending Transphobic Views". Advocate. Here Media Inc. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ Launder, William. "Vice Media Gets 21st Century Fox Cash". WSJ.com. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ "Vice". Emmys.com. Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ Plunkett, John. "BBC playing 'catch-up' with Vice News, says Newsbeat editor". TheGuardian.com. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/29/time-warner-vice-media_n_5738050.html
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-e-networks-buying-minority-729183