Vice Media opens APAC HQ

Vice Media today announced it is opening a new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, and also a host of new deals across the region regarding both content and brand partnerships.

Speaking at the Casbaa Convention 2017 in Macau, Vice said global general manager, Hosi Simon, will move to Singapore to become the youth media brand’s first APAC CEO.

The Singapore hub will handle full-service content and commercial operations, including documentaries, film content product, local editorial content and creative services through Vice’s creative agency Virtue Worldwide. The APAC headquarters are slated to be fully operational by January 2018.

In addition, Vice Indonesia will see the company continue its partnership with Jawa Pos TV, which will air Viceland and Vice News Tonight, as well as digital content. Vice is also expanding its Japan partnership with Docomo to bring subscription video-on-demand service Vice+ to Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand.

Finally, Virtue Worldwide has entered into several launch partnerships in APAC, including with Unilever in Indonesia, with the NBA in China, with Nike in Thailand and the Philippines, and a BMW/Alexander Wang collaboration in China.

Separately, as announced earlier this year, Vice India will launch in early 2018 through a partnership with Times of India. New offices in Mumbai and Delhi will offer local content and programming, together with a domestic Virtue Worldwide platform.

Vice has operated in APAC since 2003, with existing offices in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and Indonesia. With 60 percent of the world’s young people living in the region, according to the UN, the new APAC headquarters demonstrates the youth media brand’s desire to maximise the opportunities available.

“With the growing importance of local culture to young people, along with a surging youth population and increased connectivity, some of the most dominant forms of global youth culture across technology, music, fashion, consumer brands, food and identity will come from this part of the world,” said Simon.

“We hope to play a significant role in creating and giving a voice to these movements, and helping to bring them to the rest of the world.”

Simon spent more than a decade as Vice’s global general manager, over seeing international growth of the company’s owned channels, brand partnerships , and mobile and OTT platforms.