
Vice Raises $500M in Its Quest for 'Total Media Domination' - adambratt
http://mashable.com/2014/09/04/vices-investment-500-million/
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rebelidealist
I absolutely love VICE News and how they go first hand in dire situations that
are under reported. However, their pop culture section is worse than trash,
only a step above 4chan. Example: A segment where a kid makes anti-semitic
jokes.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKtz4d-QiM&list=UUn8zNIfYAQ...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKtz4d-QiM&list=UUn8zNIfYAQNdrFRrr8oibKw).
Hope VICE will grow up and remove these unnecessarily stupid content that they
think are "edgy".

~~~
inglor
I'm also baffled that on one hand they have their amazing documentaries in
North Korea, Syria (in IS) and other places which are absolutely awesome and
on the other they have their trashy channel.

Moreover over the last year their main Youtube channel has gone rather stale
and most good content moved to the "Vice News" and "Motherboard" channels.

Can anyone explain the rationale for their awesome content alongside the very
mediocre content this comment speaks of? Why not focus on quality content
(Which has been working great for them so far?) What's the business idea here?

~~~
salemh
Off the cuff answers, but, driving eye balls, and they engage their audiences.
Which is why their valuation is so high, and why most news organizations are
seeking investment into them.

They have a balance of 'mediocre' (per your comment) but engaging content, as
well as very in-depth investigative documentaries. Both drive different eye
balls, but they have kept their 'cool' factor for the new generation which is
_not_ following traditional news sources [1].

[1] I am at work, can't pull citations.

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mathattack
That's a big surprise to me. I hadn't thought them relevant at all.

What's the driver behind this? Buzzfeeditis? But it seems like they want on TV
more than anything else.

~~~
baddox
One of us may be filter bubbled, or perhaps we are both in different filter
bubbles. I perceive Vice to be extremely relevant among my peers. I think at
least once a week, while talking about some random topic, someone will say
"there's a great Vice documentary about that."

~~~
mousa
They're great but its a matter of time before their reporters die. The one in
Mali was filming the front line of a gun battle.

~~~
tim333
I thought their coverage of ISIS in Iraq was remarkable. And yeah they'll
probably lose a reporter at some stage if they keep on like that. Though I
guess they could replace them - it looks rather fun filming on the front
lines, if hairy.

[https://news.vice.com/video/the-islamic-state-full-
length](https://news.vice.com/video/the-islamic-state-full-length)

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7Figures2Commas
A&E Networks? Technology Crossover Ventures? I'm really disappointed in Vice.
A $500 million party round led by drug runners, arms dealers, art thieves,
smut peddlers and dictator progeny would have been far more impressive.

~~~
camillomiller
Ah, until The punchline I thought you were describing the venture capitals
scene

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adrianwaj
Will they be able stay true to their roots, or will they be worried to run
stories because of fear one of their large advertisers will pull their
contract? I mean with those sort of resources and reach they could do some
serious investigative journalism.

~~~
dmix
Vice is already making PR fluff pieces for the US Marines:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5f-Bt3DXfU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5f-Bt3DXfU)

I doubt they are worried about their roots anymore. They haven't been a
'counter-culture' magazine for a while, they are a traditional news org.

~~~
adrianwaj
They should do a story on themselves. The vice of Vice.

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wsr
Can someone explain to me the rationale behind this valuation? It seems a bit
high.

As far as I know, their biggest distribution has been on Youtube. Maybe I'm
wrong here, but assuming this is the case...

Some rough math: \- On Youtube, they have ~5m fans. \- 1287 videos

Assuming 100k per video. We're talking about ~100M - 200M aggregate views.
That's minimal.

So what's so valuable about this media?

~~~
us0r
They do $500 mil/year in revenue.

edit: Here is their mediakit: [http://scs-
assets.s3.amazonaws.com/int/2014-VICE-Digital-Med...](http://scs-
assets.s3.amazonaws.com/int/2014-VICE-Digital-Media-Kit.pdf)

~~~
antr
Wow, those CPMs are pretty high. Good for Vice, they do create some very good
content.

~~~
kitcar
Usually CPMs advertised in media kits are cut by ~50% by the time an actual
insertion order is placed -

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ethana
As long as Murdoch has anything to say about it.

