| Editor | Josh Schollmeyer |
|---|---|
| Editor in Chief | Josh Schollmeyer |
| Category | Lifestyle and culture |
| Publisher | Michael Dubin |
| Founder | Josh Schollmeyer, Michael Dubin |
| Company | Literally Media |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Country | United States |
| Based | Marina del Rey, California |
| Language | English |
| Finaldate | 2022 |
MEL was a men's magazine headquartered in Marina del Rey, California.[1] Originally funded by Dollar Shave Club, Mel was described by New York Times journalist Amanda Hess as "the rare men's magazine that has taken upon itself to investigate masculinity, not enforce it".[2] The magazine had no advertisements.[3]
MEL was started in 2015 as a newsletter with five to seven employees.[3][4][5] It was originally published on the third-party site Medium.[3] In 2018, MEL reworked the site and transitioned from Medium to a stand-alone website.[3] In 2017, MEL had approximately 1.4 million monthly unique visitors, which grew to 2.8 million by July 2018.[3] In 2020, traffic grew 30 percent, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 4 million unique monthly visitors.[1][6] On March 24, 2021, MEL ceased publishing,[7] and all staff were laid off.[8]
On July 7, 2021, it was announced that MEL had been acquired by Recurrent Ventures,[9] and would be relaunching under longtime editor-in-chief Josh Schollmeyer.[10] On July 22, 2022, MEL staff were laid off again.[11][12] In December 2023, digital media group Literally Media, which also owns brands such as Cracked.com, I Can Has Cheezburger?, Know Your Meme, and eBaum's World, purchased MEL for an undisclosed amount.[13] As of , articles up to the 2022 shutdown of operations are still live on the website, though Literally Media has not started publishing new articles.
References
- ^ Miller, Harry (May 15, 2020). "MEL Magazine's Cofounder On How The Brand-Supported Media Model Weathers A Pandemic – Forbes". Canada News Media. Archived March 24, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ^ Hess, Amanda (May 2, 2017). "What We're Reading". The New York Times. Archived March 24, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ Weissman, Cale Guthrie (August 15, 2018). "Dollar Shave Club's men's magazine "Mel" grows up". Fast Company. Archived April 9, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ^ Bienaime, Pierre (April 7, 2020). "Mel Magazine co-founder Josh Schollmeyer on how the site's 'never been there to push razors'". Digiday. Archived May 5, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ^ Perlberg, Steven (November 11, 2015). "Dollar Shave Club Launches Men's Interest Editorial Destination Called 'MEL'". WSJ. Archived March 6, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "The 2020 Publishing Hot List: Rising To Covid's Challenges". Adweek. October 26, 2020. Archived May 5, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ Chan, J. Clara (2021-03-24). "MEL Magazine to Stop Publishing After Mass Layoffs From Owner Dollar Shave Club". TheWrap. Archived 2021-09-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
- ^ "Dollar Shave Club Cuts Entire Staff of Men's Lifestyle Website MEL". www.msn.com. Archived 2022-05-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ Stenberg, Mark (2021-07-09). "Get to Know Mel Magazine's New Owners, Recurrent Ventures – Adweek". Adweek. Archived 2022-05-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
- ^ Fischer, Sara (2021-07-07). "Exclusive: MEL Magazine acquired from Dollar Shave Club by Recurrent Ventures". Axios. Archived 2021-08-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ Stenberg, Mark (2022-07-22). "Recurrent Ventures Lays Off Entire Mel Magazine Staff". AdWeek. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
- ^ "Mel Magazine Lays off Its Staff, Again". Observer. 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
- ^ "Literally Media Acquires MEL Magazine to Restore the Once Beloved Men’s Lifestyle and Culture Brand". www.businesswire.com. 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2023-12-29.