Gallery Media Group Is on Pace to Generate $50 Million in Revenue

PureWow, in particular, has spurred growth thanks to significant gains in both revenue and traffic over the last year, according to data from Comscore and financial figures shared by Gallery Media Group. The women’s lifestyle publication is on pace to generate $43 million in revenue this year, a 72% increase from the $27 million it made last year. In 2019, it brought in $26 million in sales.

“Our whole thesis has always been that we want to make positivity louder, and I think that really resonated with people over the last year,” Harwood said. “People looking for a different approach found us as a respite from some of the negativity.”

The company’s operating profit has also increased in each of the last three years, rising from 9% in 2019, to 28% in 2020 and 45% in 2021. The publisher employs 180 full-time staff.

Traffic to the 11-year-old title has also grown. The PureWow website attracted an average of 13.6 million monthly visitors in 2021, an 84% increase from its average of 7.4 million in 2020, according to Comscore.

Traffic can rise and fall, but three years of revenue growth with expanding operating profit suggests PureWow has found a working business model, one strengthened by an increasingly diverse business portfolio. Nearly a fifth of its revenue comes from its growing creative services arm, an indication that its hybrid structure could prove to be a viable business model for media companies.

A diverse business model

Agency veteran and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk created Gallery Media Group to house PureWow after he acquired the title in 2017. In 2018, Gallery Media Group launched the men’s lifestyle published one37PM.

Gallery Media Group—part of VaynerX, Vaynerchuk’s holding company— operates as a hybrid: part agency and part publisher. The company advises brands on social strategy, runs their social accounts and creates extensive campaigns for brand partners, such as when PureWow produced a one-night Broadway musical for Olay in 2019. 

This is a growth area. PureWow has expanded its creative services business into 17% of its total 2021 revenue, along with affiliate (13%) and advertising (70%). In 2020, creative services represented 10% of overall revenue, with advertising at 80% and affiliate at 10%. In 2019, its revenue came solely from advertising (90%) and affiliate (10%). 

Reactive and proactive content amplification 

PureWow owes its rise in relevance, in part, to three distinct content strategies, Harwood told Adweek. 

First, the entire editorial staff operates according to a system Harwood calls the content flywheel approach. Whenever any item––a TikTok, an article, an email, an Instagram post––gains traction on any of PureWow’s platforms, the staff pounces on the momentum, taking the concept to every other platform after tweaking it to make contextual sense.

“The content flywheel approach is something that we’ve really made a religion,” Harwood said. “It’s not a ‘nice to have’ anymore. It has changed the game for us.”

Group Black and She Media Announce Partnership to Channel Ad Budgets to Black-Owned Media

Second, in addition to amplifying successful content reactively, PureWow tries to predict what will resonate and proactively owns it, Harwood said. The approach is more subjective, he concedes, but when the publisher believes it has an emerging trend on its hands, it creates content across its platforms in an attempt to dominate the SEO.

Finally, PureWow reaches a broad demographic, ranging in age from 25 to 55, Harwood said. As such, the publisher finds success with a modern favorite: generational tribalism. Articles that point out the differences between Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z have proven consistent sources of traffic, according to Harwood.

“Everyone likes to relate to something,” Harwood said.