MUMBAI : Fork Media today announced a new agreement with Ziff Davis, the digital media company with market-leading positions in the technology, gaming and men’s lifestyle categories, to operate IGN, the world’s #1 media brand for games, movies, entertainment and fan culture, and AskMen, the world’s #1 online male lifestyle media brand, in India.
Effective from December 1, 2016, Fork Media will operate both IGN India (in.ign.com) and AskMen India (in.askmen.com), which first launched in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
IGN is the world’s leading media brand for games, movies, entertainment and fan culture, now available in 30 international editions and 24 languages in 114 countries, reaching an audience of 68 million unique users on IGN.com (Google Analytics, January 2016) and a total of 150 million users across web, video and social platforms.
AskMen is the world’s leading men’s lifestyle website, available in 13 international editions and 8 languages across 57 countries, reaching an audience of 14 million Unique Users per month (Google Analytics, January 2016). AskMen’s mission to help its audience ‘Become A Better Man’ with advice on how to ‘Look Better, Live Better and Know Better’.
Fork Media has emerged as India’s fastest growing digital media and ad technology company. Founded in Mumbai in 2013 with offices in Delhi and Bangalore, Fork launched India’s first premium platform leveraging online, mobile and video to create innovative, turnkey solutions for advertisers. With its brand-first philosophy, in-house ideation cell, multi-screen approach and focus on rapid execution and deployment of native and contextual solutions, Fork has developed a track record of delivering value to India’s largest brands, reaching around 65 million users per month.
In addition, Avinash Bali, a veteran of entertainment and lifestyle media in India, is joining Fork Media as Publisher of both IGN India and AskMen India. Zahra Khan will be AskMen India’s Editor-in-Chief and lead the content initiatives.
Samar Verma, CEO of Fork Media, said, “We are very excited about this partnership with Ziff Davis, which we view as a critical milestone in growing our content publishing business. Both IGN and AskMen have seen great traction in India with consumers, and we believe Fork Media can drive the brands to their true potential with our integrated content, sales and marketing approach.”
Adam Doree, on behalf of Ziff Davis, said, “We’re delighted to welcome Fork Media to Ziff Davis’ international partner group. Fork’s respected leadership team and its values of authenticity and innovation, both for audiences and for advertisers, are perfectly aligned for IGN and AskMen to reach the next level in India – a truly exciting market which continues to offer growth potential.”
IGN’s international profile represents a unique opportunity for advertisers looking to reach the coveted 18-34 demographic, offering both scale and local relevance in more markets than any other brand in its category. A world map showing IGN’s international markets globally can be seen at: http://world.ign.com.
At the heart of the AskMen audience is a young man who is passionate about investing in himself and the person he could be; he is currently making the decisions that will shape his purchases and choices for decades to come, and is active in influencing his social circle. AskMen’s growing international profile is shown at: http://world.askmen.com.
Operation of Ziff Davis’ PCMag.com property in India continues under a separate partnership with Times Internet Ltd.
