Multimedia Platforms Inc., which bills itself as the “only publicly traded LGBT media company,” has acquired New Frontiers Media Holdings LLC for an undisclosed sum, giving the company a West Coast presence.
The California-based Frontiers Media is perhaps best known as the publisher of the freemium LGBT lifestyle magazine Frontiers, which relaunched last year.
The purchase gives MMP a deeper reach within the LGBT markets of New York, California and Florida, according to the company, which comprises Florida Agenda, Fun Maps, Guy magazine, Next Magazine and Frontiers Media. Collectively, the five brands represent 7.5 million readers and four million unique online visitors annually. It also comes with a live events business that includes a presence in Style Fashion Week in Los Angeles, the LGBT festival Outfest, Gay Days Anaheim at Disneyland and its annual same-sex wedding expo.
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According to MMP, Frontiers will extend its reach to the East Coast, and MMP, which is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will expand the nightlife and pop culture-inspired Next to California. According to recent reports, Frontiers, which is biweekly, has a circulation of roughly 270,000, while the weekly Next New York has a circulation of roughly 50,000.
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“Our combined resources allow us to double print circulation and grow our Web traffic exponentially in 2016,” said MMP chief executive officer Bobby Blair, who noted that the larger presence in the LGBT community will be a boon to advertisers such as Delta Air Lines, Mercedes-Benz and Wells Fargo, and industry partners Rivendell Media and the National Equality Publishers Association that are looking for access to the “loyal and influential” community.
MMP will have two divisions focused on publishing and online media, with current president and group executive publisher Peter Jackson remaining in his current role.
Frontiers Media’s current president and ceo Michael Turner will transition to the role of president of multimedia platforms’ digital media, and he will continue as publisher of Frontiers.
The executive management team will include Next New York’s vice president of operations and publisher Kevin Hooper, vice president of sales Maura Lane, corporate circulation director Emily Stokes and corporate creative director Dennis Dean.
The company has added Tristan Schukraft as vice president of marketing and publisher of the new Next Los Angeles magazine, and longtime editor Owen Phillips will advise on content across all platforms.
“It’s an incredible time to be serving the LGBT community as the business world recognizes the power of this influential audience,” said Turner.
“We are creating a first-of-its-kind media company which will have global reach and influence,” added MMP president and group executive publisher Jackson. “This acquisition represents a multimillion dollar investment in digital media development to provide the LGBT community with news, opinion and entertainment across a wide variety of delivery formats, anywhere and at anytime.”