NEW YORK (Hypebot) – Townsquare Media is adding to its already rich digital portfolio of pop culture and music sites with the acquisition of XXL and related properties King and Antenna from Harris Publications. The upcoming October issue of XXL will be its last in print. King was a men's magazine and the surviving site has been dead for awhile but it will be relaunched. Antenna remains a digital-only destination for men. It will be interesting to see what Townsquare does with the new properties and the potential for getting into related events.
Last summer Townsquare Media added to its portfolio by purchasing multiple music sites from AOL and then acquiring more music sites.
Earlier this year they added Hype Machine to the mix.
Now they're adding:
XXL – One of the leading hip hop mags, XXL went through a difficult transition to digital in the previous decade under editor-in-chief Elliot Wilson who first wrote a series of magazine editorials attacking bloggers, sometimes personally, before launching "columnists" (i.e. bloggers) on the website. He was not able to lead XXL successfully into a new era, was fired and then became a blogger himself (I kid you not)!
King – Has been on hiatus for a minute but will be relaunched.
Antenna – A men's site.
Though XXL is ceasing publication, Townsquare says "all members of the XXL team will be joining Townsquare Media."
In addition, there is the possibility of "special editions of the publication in the future."
Townsquare Chief Content Officer Bill Wilson told the NY Post:
"We think XXL has strong potential in both the digital and live events market."
