Amy Watson
Research expert covering media
The end of vice.com marks the end of an era. Once hailed as the darling of digital media and a hallmark of alternative and indie culture – when Vice was not reporting on trends, it was creating them. One person’s clickbait was another’s mantra, and the website’s coverage of drugs, extremism, sex, and politics (often with provocative headlines) sometimes drew criticism. Vice reports and investigations also won the company several awards, with coverage of women’s rights in Afghanistan, the Russia-Ukraine war, and journalists in Mexico on the list of accolades in 2023. But what was Vice all about and why did it fail?
Does this mean that Vice was doomed to fail and other publications should expect to go the same way? Not necessarily. However, with Vice just one in a line of struggling companies in the media and news sector, a change in strategy and a business-minded approach to news production and distribution may now be necessary, as well as a deeper understanding of how and where modern audiences engage with news content.
Vice: what was the big deal anyway?
Covering popular and niche topics from the controversial and risqué all the way to the harrowing and hard-hitting, Vice quickly developed a reputation for its own brand of cool. The content? Sometimes described as the quirkier and edgier the better – and that became the essence of the company’s image. Wandering into an area teeming with alternative or hipster culture would often lead to an encounter with a young Vice journalist familiarizing themselves with the scene or armed with a camera in search of the best-dressed residents. To be snapped by Vice was a good sign that the wearer’s outfit abided by the ‘rules of cool’ the photographer was working to at the time, and the magazine became something for Vice’s young and media-hungry target audience to aspire to.Targeting the younger consumer: a short-term solution to bigger problems
Vice’s target audience was often lauded as the key to its success. However, having successfully engaged the then-coveted millennial demographic, which was a draw for advertisers, Vice was unable to convert this into profit, despite at one time attracting investors from Silicon Valley to Disney. Vice was also not immune to the sweeping lay-offs hitting newsrooms, and things went downhill for the company long before the website ceased publication in 2024. Efforts to make money via other methods beyond advertising fell short, and revenue targets were tough to hit and ultimately missed. Some sources attribute partial blame to executive chairman Shane Smith, whilst others consider the downfall of Vice and other digital-native platforms to be the result of poor planning. Vice’s downfall is also, to an extent, linked to wider issues and trends within the industry.The challenges facing digital-native and legacy news media
The news industry has long struggled in one way or another, whether this be the decline of print, social media algorithms sidestepping news stories in favor of other content, or social networks and search eating up large chunks of ad revenue. With platforms like Instagram and TikTok full of potential for personal branding, influencers are fast becoming the authority on topics formerly covered exclusively by magazines and news outlets. In fact, around a third of Instagram influencers worldwide now focus on lifestyle, music, or beauty. At the same time, trust in influencers for brand recommendations is fairly high, particularly among younger generations, and the greater the trust, the higher the likelihood of engaging with or purchasing a product. Conversely, trust in journalists is overall low on a global level.Does this mean that Vice was doomed to fail and other publications should expect to go the same way? Not necessarily. However, with Vice just one in a line of struggling companies in the media and news sector, a change in strategy and a business-minded approach to news production and distribution may now be necessary, as well as a deeper understanding of how and where modern audiences engage with news content.
