OZY Media targets news-starved millennials

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- OZY Media is a futuristic news organization that likes to look to the past – as in, the early incarnations of Rolling Stone and Wired before it.

We "want bold, liberating, invigorating voices," says Carlos Watson, CEO and editor-in-chief of the start-up. "There is a hunger for fresh faces."

But with mainstream publications cutting back amid a cluttered media landscape, is there room for yet another new media entrant? And can it successfully attract the attention of millennial readers and viewers against competition from BuzzFeed, Business Insider, The Verge, Quartz, Vice and others?

"Yes, yes, yes," Watson, 44, emphatically replies.

Here's how: The year-old digital magazine is laser focused on what Watson calls "the new and the next," including profiles of rising stars like soon-to-be The Daily Show host Trevor Noah; an upcoming piece on San Francisco Giant Casey McGehee, who played briefly in Japan; and flashbacks to historic figures such as Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager who brought Jackie Robinson into the major leagues. It also occasionally serves up editorial cotton candy, like its story on Airpnp, a web app for short-term bathroom rentals. (OZY has content distribution partnerships with USA TODAY, NPR, CNN and others.)

It all comes in a splashy design that is a paean to journalistic kindred spirits like Wired and Rolling Stone.

"Part of OZY's mission is premium journalism with broad appeal," says Watson, a former NBC and CNN journalist who also worked at McKinsey & Company and Goldman Sachs. "It is not a narrow niche publication."

AMBITIOUS PLANS

Several of tech's biggest names have bought into OZY's vision.

The 55-person company, which recently moved into new digs here, is backed by Laurene Powell Jobs, David Drummond and other Silicon Valley luminaries. In October, it received an additional $20 million in financing from the German publisher Axel Springer, which values OZY at about $120 million.

They're bullish for a couple of reasons. The site, though not as well known as its competitors, has attracted some 10 million monthly readers, well ahead of its initial plan. The publication plans to add 10 to 15 staffers this year. And OZY plans to launch its first ad campaign and expand its live events to boost its revenue in its bid to become profitable.

"In our information-rich society, innovative content creation and curation rises to the top," Powell Jobs said in an email. "OZY curates and creates at a very high level."

Adds Drummond, Google's chief legal officer: "Carlos' fresher, global perspective... makes them stand out. By covering the exotic, they are ahead of the game."

OZY — the name was inspired by Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" -- is developing its distinctive voice through a staff comprised of "three buckets," Watson says. These include former employees from the old media (the Wall Street Journal, The Economist), new media (Politico, Vice) and non-journalists.

"Many new media companies look as homogeneous as old media," says Watson, who started OZY at a coffee shop a few blocks away. "Editorial diversity and different viewpoints gives us a competitive advantage."

It won't be easy. The uncertain news media landscape is larded with rivals who have larger audiences and ample funding.

Consider: News Corp. has a 5% stake in Vice Media. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos is a backer of Business Insider. Ebay founder Pierre M. Omidyar is funding the start-up First Look Media. Vice raised $500 million in a pair of investments that value the company at $2.5 billion. BuzzFeed raised $50 million from Andreessen Horowitz at an $850 million valuation.

"We are in a really interesting moment," Watson says. "Smart people will observe that it won't last forever and there will be a thinning of the crowd."

"We are confident we can grow into a really profitable business," he says. "But all that is incumbent upon building and delivering a product that people love."