In a bid to increase its appeal to a younger female audience, Time Inc. has acquired Hello Giggles Inc.
Hello Giggles own HelloGiggles.com, the popular pop-culture and lifestyle website. The current acquisition is expected to give a fillip to Time Inc.'s digital magazines brands' reach.
The details of the deal are not known, however, The Wall Street Journal cites sources familiar with the matter and reveals that Time Inc. shelled out close to $20 million for Hello Giggles.
Post the acquisition, HelloGiggles.com will be folded into Time's People.com and EW.com. However, the website will continue its operations as before from Los Angeles.
The deal is the first under the leadership of Rich Battista, who joined Time Inc. as the Executive VP earlier this year.
"We see great potential, because they haven't had the capital to staff up for video or advertising at the levels they want. This will also enable them to add more writers and editors. We think they'll be able to expand into TV, movies, books, e-commerce and events," noted Battista.
HelloGiggles.com has primarily a female readership and attracts women in the 18 to 34 years age bracket. The average reader age is estimated to be 26. The website was founded in 2011 by actress Zooey Deschanel (New Girl), Sophia Rivka Rossi and Molly McAleer.
The website prides itself in being celebrity-friendly and focuses on clean content which is pertinent to professional women who are digitally savvy. HelloGoggle.com aspires its content will "inspire with a smile."
The website attracts several million visitors and per a comScore Inc. measurement, it attracted 11 million unique visitors In Sept. 2015 when compared to 721,000 in Sept. 2013. By comparison, EW.com and People.com drew 18.6 million and 32.7 million unique visitors, respectively, in Sept. 2015.
With HelloGiggles.com on board, Time Inc. would be optimistic that its digital presence would get a further boost and develop a brand that is not limited to the print space.
