In 2011, actress Zooey Deschanel teamed up with producer Sophia Rossi and writer Molly McAleer to create HelloGiggles, an online destination for women that was branded as a positive community space, free from frat-humour and clickbait; a “no gossip” home for bloggers, crafters, and creators. HelloGiggles is one of the companies that participants of the 2016 Digital Innovators West Coast Tour will visit in Los Angeles in April.
HelloGiggles has made its mark as a highly successful company with a mission of providing a safe space on the web for aspiring young female journalists. The site collects articles from paid contributors, now numbering over a thousand, with subjects ranging from national news and science, to op-ed pieces on lgbtq issues, to advice on beauty and fashion. With a target audience ranging from 13-35, HelloGiggles frequently publishes articles by young women under 18, and maintains a vibrant monthly youthful readership — today, averaging 17 million separate viewers a month.
It’s this viewership that made HelloGiggles so appealing to Time Inc., which purchased the startup for $20 million last year — Time Inc. is the largest digital entertainment news network, with more than 50 million unique visitors a month.
Between PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly, Time Inc. already creates highly successful media targeted at women, although the viewership on those markets averages age 38. HelloGiggles opens new markets for Time Inc. with audiences a decade younger, and brings its own highly energised digital community of contributors along.
The company is already expanding quickly to include film and television, as well as book publishing, in its production repertoire, and Time Inc. has expressed its enthusiasm in growing HelloGiggles as a multimedia content platform in the upcoming year.
The programme for the DI Tour is coming together and the full programme will be released in the coming weeks. Also lined up for the Los Angeles leg of the Tour are: Tastemade, an online food network for discovering where to buy food, creating new dishes and sharing them and AwesomenessTV, a multi-platform media company owned by DreamWorks Animation and Hearst Corporation.
If you want to make sure you are on the DI Tour, BOOK NOW (page opens on FIPP.com), as more than half the places on the tour have already been taken, and space is limited. The Early Bird Rate* of €7,250 is available until 19 Feb.
Contact Christine Huntingford [christine[at]fipp.com]if you have any questions.
*Available to FIPP/VDZ Members. Non Members pay €9,750