Turner bolsters its portfolio by investing in Refinery29

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.Media giant Turner is leading a funding round worth $45 million in womens lifestyle and advice digital publisher, Refinery29, according to a Turner press release.Both companies stated their intent to collaborate on new content creation, innovative ad products, and event marketing. The investment builds on Turners development in digital-first platforms like digital news and cultural site Mashable, of which it invested $15 million back in March, and Great Big Story, a digital video offering owned by CNN.Turners investment in Refinery29 is the latest of a series of traditional media investments in digital media firms. Over the last year alone there have been major acquisitions or investments in the space including a $200 million investment from NBCUniversal in Buzzfeed, Univisions 40% stake in the satirical news site The Onion, and an $8 million investment from 21st Century Fox in the fast-growing, millennial-focused newsletter and app, TheSkimm.Turners recent investment in Refinery29 can greatly benefit the traditional media company in the following ways:Capitalize on viewing outside the TV screen. In August 2015, Turner invested $200 million in online video specialist company iStreamPlanet, which could now prove to be instrumental for the company moving forward. Through iStreamPlanets technological abilities to stream video over the interest, and Turners investments with Mashable and Refinery29, Turner can expand its capabilities to offer TV content outside of the traditional ecosystem.Expand its digital reach. Refinery29 says it reaches 225 million people across various digital platforms such asFacebookand Snapchat, while bringing in 16 million unique visitors to Refinery29.com in June, according to comScore. Not only this, Refinery29 brings Turner an extremely engaged audience as well. The digital platform ranks No. 1 in minutes per user in the fashion/beauty/style vertical, according to comScore cited by Turners press release.Tap into a missing demographic. On the whole, Turner hasn't focused on young women with its current portfolio offerings. The company attracts news junkies with its CNN property, children through its Cartoon Network property, and men through its sports programming on TNT and TBS. That is why the investment in Refinery29 makes perfect sense. For instance, 85% of Refinery29s audience is female, while 59% are below the age of 34, according to measurement firm Quantcast.To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the Digital Media Briefing newsletter.Click here to learn more about how you can gain risk-free access today.Join the conversation about this story
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