An interesting “UniOnion” for millennials

The Onion appeals to millennials With millennials swarming sites like Vice, Buzzfeed, Vox, and Mic, it is no wonder why fun, aesthetically pleasing content is being king right now. Millennials’ growing demographic is spiking up these kinds of sites’ rankings & traffic. Companies are taking notice and big changes and mergers are taking place, one of the most recent ones being Univision & The Onion.

So why would Hispanic-centric Univision get with English-language satirical news media The Onion? Funny story: growth.

Univision has a loyal but ageing population, and it knows can get better by getting millennials in the wagon. We all know that Latinos born in this country are more likely to consume media in English, so for Univision this union will most definitely get them exposed to the lucrative English-speaking Hispanic millennials.

This isn’t Univision’s first attempt at getting to this audience. Two years ago, the Hispanic giant collaborated with Disney’s ABC News to “frankenbaby” Fusion Media. Fusion was a great way for both companies to further their reach; Univision will grow its millennial audience, while Disney’s ABC News will tap into the English-speaking Hispanics. Win-win for every one right? Unfortunately for both, Fusion has not picked up the expected traffic they thought it would.

This has caused ABC News, who fairly recently also invested in Vice Media, to make its way out of the partnership. Igniting Univision to resolutely deal with the problem and prioritize its work with Fusion Media. This is where The Onion will come into play. Univision is using the satirical news outlet to work closely with Fusion as a way to reach to Latinos that consume media in English. Univision understands that humor appeals to the millennial palate, so what better way to engage with them than by making the “Fusion”.

If you are worried The Onion will lose its unique touch to Univision, you should go check out Fusion. Its content is evolving and turning into a viable outlet for entertainment as well as relevant social and political topics. Even more so, Onion Inc.’s president and chief executive, Mike McAvoy, said the deal came after the company had searched for a partner to help the company grow. In a memo to employees, McAvoy explained how “As an independent media company, we’ve always been forced to run a tight financial ship, which has made us smart and lean, but not always ready to invest in the great new ideas that we come up with.”

This “UniOnion” has promising hopes for making The Onion’s content reach higher potentials and to an even larger audience. I guess only time and the people will tell if this was the right move for both companies.

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