Vox Media Completes Acquisition of Group Nine

Tuesday, February 22, 2022: Vox Media today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Group Nine and now begins a new chapter as the leader in modern media. The newly combined Vox Media includes award-winning editorial networks that are leaders in relevance and reach across every major consumer category. The company boasts a high growth and diversified business model that includes industry leading advertising and marketing capabilities, a thriving podcast network and entertainment studio, as well as live events, ecommerce, and licensing businesses. The company is a proud home and partner to the industry’s premier creators, storytellers, journalists, and product innovators.

Vox Media now reaches a domestic audience of 130 million per month on platform with editorial work across dynamic and beloved brands, making it a top 10 U.S. media company by audience, according to comScore. On social media platforms, where the company has passionate followings such as Vox and Eater on YouTube, NowThis on TikTok, The Dodo on Facebook, and PopSugar and the Cut on Instagram, Vox Media now has nearly 350 million followers. In video, across brands like NowThis, Vox, SB Nation, Eater, The Verge, and The Dodo, the company’s work garners six billion monthly video views. Vox Media’s advertising marketplace, Concert, reaches hundreds of millions of people each month across dozens of national and local publications. Also home to an iconic print magazine, a fast-growing entertainment studio and podcast network, popular conferences and events, and successful commerce and licensing businesses, Vox Media continues to reach modern audiences everywhere they are.

Jim Bankoff, Vox Media CEO, chair, and co-founder continues to lead the company as he has for over a decade. As previously announced, Group Nine founder and CEO Ben Lerer joins the Vox Media board of directors and will advise on key strategic initiatives. Sheereen Miller-Russell, Discovery Networks’ SVP, ad sales and inclusive content monetization strategy, also joins the Vox Media board representing Discovery’s investment in the combined entity.

“Today, Vox Media becomes an even stronger, even more ambitious version of itself,” says Bankoff. “We have always believed that quality work leads to massive reach and a successful business. This combination will accelerate our growth and ability to delight and inform people wherever they choose to watch, listen and read. I’m grateful to lead such a talented team in a workplace driven by respect for our audiences, business partners and each other. We’re excited to get to work as one company.”

The acquisition combines two growing advertising businesses that together offer industry-leading brand-building capabilities for a broader audience than ever before. This includes an unrivaled branded content business, a performance marketing solution, and full-funnel marketing solutions across audio, video, programmatic and social. Additionally, Vox Media will integrate Group Nine audience insights into Forte, the first-party-data platform, and the Group Nine editorial brands will soon join Concert, Vox Media’s programmatic ad marketplace.

The Group Nine and Vox Media merger is built on a strong foundation of shared company values and a commitment to building an inclusive workplace for all. Vox Media has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Media”; an Inc. “Company of the Year”; twice earned the title of Digiday’s “Best Employer for Parents,” most recently in 2021; and is a three-time recipient of the Washingtonian’s “Great Places to Work” award. For the last four years, Vox Media has been named a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ equality by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

Vox Media also remains deeply committed to building a better, more responsible media industry, and focuses on driving change by supporting the next generation of media leaders, inventing advertising and publishing technologies that also do good, and giving back via its services and voices.

The deal is closed as of February 22, 2022. Vox Media’s acquisition of Group Nine was announced on December 13, 2021.

About Vox Media

Vox Media is the leading modern media company, reaching audiences everywhere they are.

Known for editorial properties including Vox, SB Nation, New York Magazine, The Dodo, and NowThis, the company’s portfolio features the most relevant, respected, and engaging editorial properties and voices. The company is also home to award-winning storytelling businesses such as Vox Media Studios and the Vox Media Podcast Network, as well as innovative technologies that support the entire media industry, including the Concert advertising marketplace.

Vox Media proves that quality can scale.