Vice launches female-focused channel Broadly

Vice Media announced the launch of its female-focused channel on Monday.

Geared toward women around the globe and of all ages, Vice’s new channel -- called Broadly -- features content on subjects spanning politics, culture, sex and fashion.

Broadly is joining Vice’s network of now 11 channels, including Vice News, Munchies (about food) and Motherboard (about tech and science), all of which utilize YouTube as a video platform
Vice, founded by Shane Smith, began in 1994 as an edgy Montreal culture magazine. Smith has since built it into one of America’s hottest media properties, with digital channels, a television and feature film production studio, a magazine, a record label and a book-publishing division.

The Brooklyn-based media company, which is popular among millennial audiences, has its content available on a wide variety of platforms that include premium cable network HBO and the popular Snapchat app.

Content on Broadly, which ranges in length, includes video series, tentpole documentaries, in-depth profiles and daily editorial features. Most episodes feature prominent female voices, including Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, actress and singer Rose McGowan and conservative social and political commentator Ann Coulter.

The channel is led by editor-in-chief Tracie Egan Morrissey, who came from Jezebel, and publisher Shanon Kelley, who has been with Vice for six years.

Morrissey, who pitched Vice the idea of the channel last year, said during her time at Jezebel she realized there is an audience that cares about female-driven content.

“Women should have the same sort of media aimed that them that is aimed at men,” she said. “There isn’t a lot of video stuff that’s being made for women, by women, about women. It’s really important that women have a platform like this so that they can have their stories told and they can tell the stories they want to tell.”

The Broadly team is made up of a mix of in-house editorial staff (about eight people) and an “army of freelancers” across the globe.

“For right now we are focusing on the channel,” Kelley said. “After that, we’re going to conquer the rest of the world.”

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