Pedestrian Group has signed a multi-year deal to publish versions of U.S. websites Vice and Refinery29 in the Australian market.
The move comes less than a year after Vice's local struggles here in Oz, however Pedestrian’s CEO Matt Rowley is confident both Vice and Refinery29 will be set up for success.
“In the Pedestrian Group, we’ve actually seen growth year-on-year,” said Rowley, as per Mumbrella reports.
“Part of what’s behind that is the scale that we’ve got in market. If you think about Pedestrian, it’s always been a self-sustaining business model. It’s needed to be profitable to reinvest in the business and build. It’s never been a venture capital-backed business model.”
“The reason why we’re confident this is going to work is that we can put that Pedestrian might behind these brands in a way that no other youth or lifestyle publisher in Australia can.”
“It’s a different situation now, Vice joining our group, rather than trying to build to that scale by itself,” he said.
Along with Vice, Refinery29 will launch within the first half of this year.
Refinery29’s global editor-in-chief, Simone Oliver, said she is “so excited to expand Refinery29 into the Australian market”.
“The ethos of this platform is to be able to create a space for women and for underrepresented voices to be seen and heard,” said Oliver.
“We look forward to seeing how this platform is received here – and continuing to grow the Refinery audience.”
