October 21, 2015

HelloGiggles says “Hello, merger”

Founded by New Girl actress Zooey Deschanel in 2011, the popular upbeat women's blog HelloGiggles (HG) has been purchased by Time Inc. for a reported $20 million.

Founded by New Girl actress Zooey Deschanel in 2011, the popular upbeat women's blog HelloGiggles (HG) has been purchased by TIME Inc. for a reported $20 million. The move is designed to capitalize on the unique content HG provides female readers seeking a life-enhancing, positive outlook on issues like culture, style and the workplace.

In a post on the blog's news section, the site's team writes that this deal will be a boon for its content creators, as well as the visibility of HG material itself.

"As of today, HelloGiggles will be part of Time Inc., the same company that brings you People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle and a ton of other magazines and media you know and love. By partnering with Time Inc., we hope to promote the work of our amazing contributors on an even bigger platform, to showcase young talent and reach more readers than ever, and to expand the HG community in cool, new, exciting ways."

Within the content creation space, one could look at this as a kind of boutique acquisition. One strength of HG's content strategy has been creating material that runs counter to the competitive tone of other sites for women. As such, the brand has carved a small but passionate niche of a highly sought-after audience, particularly young people. Between 2013 and 2015, September readership grew from less than 800,000 to more than 11 million unique readers, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

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