Here’s one way that Thrillist Media Group is spending the $54 million that it raised earlier this year: It’s adding three new sections to its website, one for entertainment, one for health and one for sex and dating.
Naturally, the company is supporting this expansion with some new hires. John Sellers, former senior editor at New York Magazine’s Vulture, will run the entertainment vertical. Anthony Schneck, former managing editor of MindBodyGreen, is the new health editor. And Nicole Caldwell, former editor in chief of Playgirl (!), will serve as sex and dating editor.
Founded a decade ago by Ben Lerer (pictured above) and Adam Rich, Thrillist is a lifestyle site for men, and until now was largely focused on food, drink and travel. President of Sales Eric Ashman said the new sections are “evolutions of the content we’ve already been doing.”
Sex and dating has an obvious connection to food and drink, but more broadly, Ashman said Thrillist aims to help readers “drive decision-making in their everyday lives.” And while the company is currently focused on these three launches, it’s also considering the addition of even more categories next year: “It’s certainly not the last of our expansion, for sure.”
And yes, the new sections need to have locally relevant content. After all, Ashman said, “The number one search term on Thrillist is brunch. Our North Star is brunch. People need to be able to come to Thrillist on Sunday morning and find a good place to go to brunch.”
The company is also announcing that it has hired Bill McCandless, former vice president of video programming and production at Bleacher Report, to expand its video production efforts. Oh, and its tech site Supercompressor is now a section on the main Thrillist website.
“Ultimately, our goal is to build a preeminent lifestyle destination for millennial guys and for a broader audience beyond that,” Ashman said. “The phrase we use is, people that want to live fun lives.”
