''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

and

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

news website. It was founded in 2008 by

Jarret Myer Jarret Myer (born February 6, 1973) is an American media entrepreneur who co-founded the record label Rawkus Records, the YouTube talent company Big Frame, and the digital media brand Uproxx. Since the sale of Uproxx to Woven Digital in 2014, My ...

and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience is men aged 18–34. It was acquired by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

in August 2018, with Myer and CEO Benjamin Blank remaining in control of the company's operations.

History

Uproxx was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The two also founded hip hop label Rawkus Records in 1996 and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

media company Big Frame in 2011. Uproxx was initially a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

s and formed when the founders partnered with the owners of other blogs, including acquiring With Leather and FilmDrunk from Fat Penguin Media founder Ryan Perry, who later signed on as creative director. Uproxx was acquired by

Woven Digital ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audien ...

in April 2014. Myer joined Woven as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. In December 2014, Woven raised US$18 million in Series A funding. A portion of the capital was allocated to growing Uproxx through staff hires and video development, including new

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

. Uproxx acquired ''

Dime Magazine ''Dime Magazine'' is an American basketball magazine that was created by Patrick Cassidy and began circulation in 2001. The magazine publishes six issues a year for its worldwide readership, as well as a handful of editions of ''Dime China'', a Ch ...

'' in January 2015 to expand the sports division of the site. Warner Music Group acquired Uproxx in August 2018.

Content

Uproxx is a news and discussion website that is geared toward

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 20 ...

, specifically males aged 18–34. The site covers viral news stories related to entertainment and culture, with an emphasis on

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

, TV, and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

. Uproxx is divided into verticals including Entertainment, Sports, and Life, each of which comprises multiple blogs. These blogs include "With Spandex", about

pro wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

; and ''

'', which focuses on

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. In addition, Uproxx offers a platform for live Q&As with celebrities and creators to promote upcoming projects.

Video

Video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

makes up a significant portion of the site's

content Content or contents may refer to: Media * Content (media), information or experience provided to audience or end-users by publishers or media producers ** Content industry, an umbrella term that encompasses companies owning and providing mas ...

and Uproxx produces both original and sponsored video. In 2013, Uproxx partnered with 5-Second Films to produce longer content for Uproxx Video on YouTube. Since its acquisition by Woven, Uproxx has placed more emphasis on video content and released several web series. The site launched "Luminaries", its first original series in January 2015. The show profiles young inventors and the first two episodes generated 18.5 million views within the first four months. The series was nominated for a Webby Award in 2015. The site's second series, a parodic news series called The Desk, debuted in March 2015. The next month, in April 2015, Uproxx began a documentary series centered on

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

called Uproxx Docs. It commenced with a three-part piece about

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

Guns N’ Roses. Also in 2015, Uproxx launched several sponsored video series. Among these were "Uncharted: Power of Dreams", a show that profiles rising musicians, with

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

, and "Human", a video series about

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s and others who preserve traditional work, sponsored by Coors Banquet. Human won an OMMA award in 2015.

Staff and operations

Uproxx is headquartered in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

. The editorial staff is led by

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

Brett Michael Dykes, and head of publishing Kris Maske. Other staff members include Steve Bramucci, managing editor of the site's Life section, Phil Cosores, music managing editor, Brian Grubb, senior TV editor, Cherise Johnson, digital media manager for Uproxx Music's original programming, Mike Ryan, senior entertainment writer, and Vince Mancini, senior film writer.

Uproxx Media Group

Uproxx Media Group, originally named Woven Digital, was the owner of Uproxx and its related properties until their acquisition by

in August 2018.

History

The company was founded as Woven Digital in 2010 by Scott Grimes and Michael Laur as an ad network with Grimes serving as the CEO. The network's intended audience was young men, 18-34 year old. Woven's mission was to bring the passion points of guys together in one place via a platform agnostic network of websites, videos, and branded content. The company grew through purchases of websites with large followings. Its first acquisition was lifestyle site BroBible in 2012. Following this were the acquisitions in 2013 of Animal New York, Guyism, and Brotips Media. As Woven's CEO, Grimes drove the 2014 acquisition of Uproxx more than doubling Woven's viewership. In that same year, Woven's reach, including its affiliated sites, exceeded that of Vox Media or Vice Media. Woven was included in the top ten of ''Fast Company'' list of "Most Innovative Companies in Hollywood" in early 2015 for "helping brands speak a young man's language". In 2015, Woven Studios was built in Culver City to produce original digital content. The company expanded Uproxx's coverage of sports with the 2015 acquisition of ''

'', diversifying in film and TV by acquiring HitFix in 2016. The company changed its name in 2017 to Uproxx Media Group, to consolidate under its most public-facing brand and to focus on Uproxx's original, long-form content. On August 2, 2018,

announced that it had acquired Uproxx and its properties (except for BroBible, which will continue to publish independently) for an undisclosed sum, although Uproxx has raised around $43m (£33m) from previous investment, which provides some sense of the firm's valuation.

Operations

Uproxx Media Group was a digital media company that owned multiple entertainment sites and created branded content focused on a male millennial audience. , it had six main brands: Uproxx, HitFix, Dime, Real Talk, With Spandex, and BroBible. The company's sites reached more than 90 million unique viewers per month. Uproxx was the company's largest brand, with a viewership of 40 million per month. Headquartered in Culver City, the company also had production facilities in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. The Culver City offices housed a full production studio staffed by writers, illustrators, presenters and video editing staff; the company produced all of its own sponsored videos. Benjamin Blank was the company's chief executive officer and chief creative officer, and Colin Digiaro served as executive chairman for mergers and acquisitions and fundraising. Other key personnel included Scott Grimes, executive chairman overseeing revenue, Jen Sargent as president, and Uproxx co-creator

, who served as publisher.

Original programming

Uproxx Media Group developed web originals, long- and short-form series and films through Uproxx Studios. Specializing in documentary-style productions, the studio created a piece of branded content for fast food chain Checkers in 2017 featuring rapper

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...

. The short documentary-style video received a positive critical reception and was a featured entry in PR Week and Campaign's 2017 Brand Film Festival. Uproxx Media Group also created a short documentary on Guns N' Roses in 2015, and as of 2017 it has released several original series. The Uproxx series “Uncharted” was created in partnership with Honda Stage, and has won numerous awards, most notably a Gold Clio Award in 2016. Uproxx worked with MillerCoors on "Human" and "Human Limits", a series of short documentary videos that profiled "inspirational" people, entrepreneurs, and artists that was nominated for several awards. It was a MERIT winner for 2017 The One Show and a winner at the 2017 D&AD Awards. Uproxx has also partnered with the United States Marine Corps to create sponsored content.

References

External links

* {{Warner Music Group American entertainment websites Internet properties established in 2008 Mass media about Internet culture American companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in California Companies based in Culver City, California Warner Music Group 2018 mergers and acquisitions