Voice Media Group

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Voice Media Group
Company typePrivate
Industry
FoundedSeptember 1, 2012; 11 years ago (2012-09-01)
Headquarters
Key people
  • Scott Tobias
  • Christine Brennan
  • Jeff Mars
Revenue$145.2 million (2019)
Number of employees
148 (2017)
ParentVillage Voice Media Holdings

Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing.[1]

VMG's current properties include Denver Westword, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Miami New Times, and Broward New Times, as well as a digital marketing agency V Digital Services.

History

VMG was founded in September 2012, when Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars announced an agreement to purchase Village Voice Media's papers and web properties from their founders.[2] The classified web site Backpage.com was not part of the sale.[3]

VMG launched the digital marketing agency V Digital Services in 2013. VDS works with VMG publications and partners around the country to offer digital marketing solutions[buzzword] including organic SEO, social media management, paid media, web development and programmatic and pay-per-click advertising. V Digital Services made Inc. magazine's “Inc. 500 list”[4] of America's fastest-growing private companies in 2019, 2018 and 2017.

While adding resources to VDS, Voice Media Group has made strategic divestments of some its newspaper properties. On May 6, 2015, VMG announced the sale of Minneapolis City Pages to Star Tribune Media Co.[5] In October 2015, VMG sold the Village Voice[6] in New York City to Pennsylvania newspaper owner Peter Barbey. In October 2017, VMG sold LA Weekly[7] to local owners; the next month, following devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, it announced that the Houston Press would cease print publication[8] and transition to an online-only entity.

In 2021, Voice Media Group sold the Houston Press to an anonymous buyer.[9]

Awards

VMG's publications have won numerous national journalism awards, including the 2018 George Polk Award[10] for immigration reporting at Phoenix New Times, 2017 Sigma Delta Chi Awards[11] at both Miami New Times and Westword, and the 2014 George Polk Award[12] for sports reporting at Miami New Times.

References

  1. ^ "Newly Formed Denver Holding Company Voice Media Group To Acquire Village Voice Media Publishing Properties". PR Newswire. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  2. ^ Ha, Anthony (23 September 2012). "Village Voice Media Execs Acquire The Company's Famed Alt Weeklies, Form New Holding Company". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  3. ^ Russell, Mallory (24 September 2012). "Village Voice Management Buyout Leaves Backpage.com Behind". Ad Age. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  4. ^ "2019 Inc. 5000: The Most Successful Companies in America". Inc. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ Ramstad, Evan (6 May 2015). "Star Tribune makes deal to buy alt-weekly City Pages". Star Tribune. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  6. ^ Santora, Marc (12 October 2015). "Village Voice Sold to Peter Barbey, Owner of a Pennsylvania Newspaper". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  7. ^ Haithman, Diane (18 October 2017). "Voice Media Group Sells LA Weekly to Semanal Media". LA Business Journal. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  8. ^ Downing, Margaret (3 November 2017). "The Presses Have Stopped, But the Press Lives On". Houston Press. Retrieved 4 November 2017.[self-published source]
  9. ^ Devadanam, Steven (9 November 2021). "Pioneering Houston alternative media outlet sold to mysterious new owner". CultureMap Houston. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  10. ^ Stern, Ray (20 February 2018). "Phoenix New Times Writers Win Polk Award for Exposing Motel 6 Collusion With ICE". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 20 February 2018.[self-published source]
  11. ^ Cordial, Christine (23 April 2018). "Announcing the 2017 Sigma Delta Chi Award winners". society of professional journalists. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  12. ^ Zaragoza, Jason (18 February 2014). "Miami New Times' Tim Elfrink Wins Polk Award". association of alternative news media. Retrieved 18 February 2014.