WPP invests $6.5m in news outfit Mic to bolster engagement with millennials
WPP has today (June 21) announced a $6.5m investment in Mic Network, aka Mic, a US-based news outlet focused on millennial audiences, with the deal just the latest move in the holding group's strategy of funding content production houses.
The latest investment round brings Mic’s total funding to more than $60m with the outfit employing a team of 165 staff / Mic Networks
The latest investment round brings Mic’s total funding to more than $60m since its establishment in 2011, with the content producer claiming an audience of over 65 million unique users per month.
With bureaus across North America, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, Mic employs journalists (forming part of a wider 165 headcount) who report on news and cultural events through text and video formats designed to appeal to millennial audiences.
Mic’s channels include: Navigating Trump’s America (politics); The Movement (social justice); Payoff (personal finance); Slay (feminism); Hype (entertainment); The Future is Now (technology); and Multiplayer (gaming), in addition to its core focus on news.
In addition, it also creates branded content on behalf of advertisers who want to build relationships with millennial audiences, with clients including: Google-owner Alphabet; Discover; Goldman Sachs; Marriott International; Netflix; Chanel; and Microsoft.
The investment continues WPP's strategy of focusing on three key areas which it claims differentiates the group's offering from those of its rivals; ie offering clients technology; data; and content production services.
It also follows similar investments from WPP, with previous moves including the funding of digital content outfits such as: Russell Simmons' All Def Digital; Refinery29; Uproxx Media Group; Mitú; and 88rising.
The agency holding group has also strategic investments in: Fullscreen; Indigenous Media; Imagina; MRC; and Vice (which earlier this week announced a $450m investment separate to its WPP funding).