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Junkee Media acquires The Vine, taps former owner to lead new social video product

Junkee Media has acquired pop culture site The Vine and appointed former owner Tom Pitney to lead a new Junkee media product focused on social mobile video.

thevine-logo

The announcement follows the refresh of Junkee Media’s website and other media channels last month. Junkee was bought by Ooh Media in June.

Pitney first bought the The Vine title in September 2015 and was able to double its growth in his first six months.

The Vine received 11m organic video views on Facebook over the last six months, with the recaps of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette most popular amongst viewers.

Tim Duggan, publisher at Junkee Media, said Pitney’s “unique talent” has allowed him to grow the title.

“He has the rare combination of natural editorial talent mixed with entrepreneurial skills and he’s going to be a great asset for Junkee Media as we grow our social mobile video reach even further,” Duggan said.

Pitney will be responsible for a new product to be launched by Junkee Media in 2017 that will focus on social mobile video.

tom-pitney

Pitney will lead Junkee Media’s new social mobile video product

Neil Ackland, CEO of Junkee Media, said the company was pleased to “acqu-hire” Pitney.

“What Tom was able to do with The Vine is astonishing and we can’t wait to add his talent, energy and creativity to our video team which is now the fastest growing part of our business,” Ackland said.

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