Viceland
- Vice
Media missed its 2017 revenue target of $805 million by more than $100 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report. - The revenue miss is reportedly largely due to the struggles of the company's cable TV channel, Viceland.
Vice Media missed its 2017 revenue target of $805 million by more than $100 million, largely due to the struggles of the company's cable TV channel, Viceland, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
A Vice spokesman did not confirm the revenue miss to Business Insider, but provided a statement saying that the company "posted double-digit revenue growth" in 2017.
Vice, known for its youth-focused digital content and news, has been valued at $5.7 billion, about twice as much as The New York Times.
But the company's expansion into, and struggles within, the realm of cable TV has reportedly been the driving force behind its recent revenue miss.
Viceland drew a prime time average of just 55,000 viewers among adults 18 to 49 in 2017, according to Nielsen. This figure is up 28% from 2016, the year that the channel launched, but it's still well behind established cable channels in entertainment-focused TV.
In January, Canadian media giant Rogers Media ended a $100 million joint venture with Vice Media over low ratings and reportedly substantial revenue losses for the company's Canadian cable channel, Viceland Canada.
Vice's overall digital presence grew in 2017, however, as its web traffic rose 16% from 2016, reaching 78 million unique visitors a month in December, according to comScore. A Vice spokesman pointed to this figure as the company's "highest traffic ever."
The reported revenue miss comes in the wake of an executive shake-up after a New York Times story in December reported a history of allegations of and settlements over sexual misconduct in the company.
Vice Media suspended its president, Andrew Creighton, and chief digital officer, Mike Germano, after the report. Germano subsequently left the company.