May 5
VICE
Vice Media’s NewFront, held at Spring Studios in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, was light on news and devoid of company execs. (In a pre-recorded video message, CEO Shane Smith said that an unspecified on-location shoot prevented him from attending.) Instead, the hosts of Viceland late-night talk show ‘Desus & Mero’ emceed the event. Speaking of Viceland, the company said that the cable net – which launched in February of 2016 – has grown by double digits each quarter since its debut. Of course, context matters here: Between November and December of last year, the channel averaged 25,000 primetime viewers in the 18-34 demo, and 58,000 in the 18-49 demo. In other words, that “double digital” quarterly growth is not necessarily as impressive as Vice would have you believe. Still, the company’s vast digital reach is not in question: Vice pointed out that it reaches 288 million people monthly across its global digital platforms. In programming news, Vice announced that rapper Tyler, the Creator will host a new Viceland show called ‘Nuts & Bolts,” which will explore how various things are made. The company also announced that it’s bringing digital channels – including Motherboard, Vice News, and Noisey – to Twitch, the Amazon-owned live-streaming platform. After the presentation, a boxing match ensued. No, really: There was an actual boxing ring set up in the middle of the event space. Viceland host Eddie Huang (‘Huang’s World’) fought Vice producer/chief of staff Niall Cooney, with Huang winning by decision after three rounds. Vice certainly wasn’t afraid to go for strange.
