Major technological change has always created opportunities for publications to progress, making way for media newcomers to enter the war for your attention. Whether it’s churning out ultra-shareable and GIF-heavy listicles (The BuzzFeed model) or building out different verticals of online editorial brands (The Vox Media model), digital media companies are continuously shaking up old-school journalism in attempts to master the Internet as a medium.
Among emerging New York news giants there are also smaller companies with big ideas and new approaches, all seeking to invent and reinvent new media. Here are ten NYC media comapnies to keep an eye on:
theSkimm is the millennial woman’s front page. Upon signing up for the company’s daily newsletter, subscribers receive a quippy breakdown of the day’s need-to-know news. The company’s employees do the reading for you and summarize the world’s most essential news with fresh editorial content that gets readers up to speed.
Group Nine Media is the product of four digital media brands coming together. Each brand has unique content within their own niche covering food, drink and travel (Thrillist), animals and activism (The Dodo), news and entertainment (Now This) and science, tech and exploration (Seeker). Across these brands, Group Nine has over 4 billion video views each month and over 30 million YouTube subscribers. Designed for consumption across the web, Group Nine’s brands are a go-to source for millennial audiences.
Vice Media has been around for nearly a quarter of a century but is constantly evolving along with the ever-changing media landscape. With origins as a magazine, Vice has since expanded to both domestic and international content including films, music and an in-depth news program-all targeted towards millennial audiences.
Gimlet Media is a podcasting network, created by former This American Life and Planet Money producer, Alex Blumberg. As Blumberg chronicled his efforts to launch Gimlet through a podcast called Startup, the company gained serious traction as listeners tuned in to hear about funding rounds and crowdfunding campaigns. Gimlet’s second podcast, Reply All, narrates the Internet’s stories and the company’s third podcast, Mystery Show, solves listeners’ mysteries. These type of high quality, in-depth podcasts are coming to define the the medium as a popular form of audio journalism.
SheKnows is a women’s media company that covers a wide range of lifestyle topics, from parenting to fashion. With 309 million social media followers and more than 81 million unique visitors a month, SheKnows extends its their reach through their brands Blogher, Helloflo and Stylecaster.
Refinery29 is a digital media source aiming to inform women on politics, entertainment, health, tech and more. In addition to their 2,000 stories a month, the company also has a popular video channel with content including DIY, fitness, style, and even narrative stories told through multiple seasons. Now, with active international sites in the UK and Germany, Refinery29 continues to grow with over 25 million monthly views and 331 million users across all platforms.
Mic is a millennial-focused media startup, but differs from sites like BuzzFeed in its more serious approach to journalism. As many media startups are honing in on appealing to a young generation, Mic aims to cover compelling news stories by utilizing both text and video fluidly across any digital platform (i.e. phone, laptop or tablet).
NewsWhip leverages active users on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to track and find breaking news. By monitoring stories that garner significant human engagement, NewsWhip works to surface the world’s most emotive and interesting news—in real time. Across politics, regions and thousands of other niche topics, the company provides journalists with useful insights on the levels of social interaction around newly published content.
News Deeply is a media outlet that builds single-subject information hubs, bringing together thought leaders and influential decision makers as subject matter experts. The platform is experimenting with a form of citizen journalism, creating interactive community platforms that blend news, live events and social engagement surrounding complex global issues. The startup’s flagship platform, Syria Deeply, provides extensive coverage of the ongoing Syrian crisis.
Newsela builds reading comprehension using nonfiction that’s always relevant—daily news. The platform aggregates daily news articles from top national and regional publications and allows students to read them across five different reading levels. Catering to students’ individual learning capabilities, the company encourages readers to engage with news at a specialized reading level and empowers students to change reading levels as they see fit. The platform also provides embedded quizzes to assess students’ reading development and proficiency within Common Core standards.
