Hodinkee Expands Headcount as Part of Broader Bid to Widen Its Audience

The specialty watch publisher Hodinkee, which combines lifestyle reporting with a marketplace, added five new staff to its editorial team in August, the latest move in a series of strategic shifts designed to expand the reach and relevance of the company. The hires bring the total editorial headcount of the publisher to 20—and they aim to bolster its footprint in key growth areas, including video and among younger, more diverse audiences, said chief executive Jeffrey Fowler, who joined Hodinkee in March. The site, which publishes articles ranging from photo essays of horological street style to in-depth analyses of new models, currently attracts 1.4 million visitors per month, according to Comscore. It generated 60 million total pageviews in 2021 and this year aims to reach 80 million. “The watch industry, for many years, felt inaccessible to many people,” Fowler told Adweek. “So, we're really trying to build out our diversity of talent, to be able to speak to a diversity of audience members.” The newly expanded newsroom represents only a fraction of the larger Hodinkee headcount. In February 2021 it acquired the pre-owned watch marketplace Crown & Caliber, which added between 70 and 80 new staff. In total, Hodinkee employs 160 people, Fowler said. The purchase of Crown & Caliber came after Hodinkee raised $40 million in a second round of funding, in December 2020, to finance its expansion. With the resale marketplace in tow, the company generated more than $100 million revenue last year, according to founder Benjamin Clymer. The publisher declined to say whether it was profitable. Its latest fundraising valued the company at upwards of $100 million. Hodinkee, like peers Hypebeast and Food52, has pinned its hopes for financial sustainability on a blend of advertising and commerce. The model offers publishers a degree of insulation from the mercurial business of advertising, but it subjects them to the whims of other market forces, such as downturns in consumer spending—which this year led Food52 to lay off staff. How Commerce-Heavy Publishers Are Preparing for an Unprecedented Holiday Season Video, new audiences and newsletters as key growth areas Founded in 2008 as a niche blog for wristwatch aficionados, Hodinkee has lately made several strategic decisions to broaden its audience, said Nick Marino, its senior vice president of content and a former GQ editor. In particular, the five new hires aim to bring fresh voices into the editorial mix and attract new readers, as the world of watches has historically catered to the small community of collectors. The new appointments include a relative newcomer to the world of timepieces, as well as staff whose diversity of both gender and race seeks to appeal to new audiences. One hire, Brandon Menancio, will play a key role in boosting the video presence of Hodinkee, an area that the publisher hopes to expand. The company has set an internal goal of upping its video output by 30%—and it launched a new series in September, called Spec Sheet, which introduces viewers to a particular watch in a 60-second video. The publisher also produces series like Talking Watches, which feature a noteworthy watch enthusiast in conversation with a Hodinkee editor and can run up to 20 minutes long. “We think that video is a really easy way for people to enter the world of watches without being intimidated, so it is a huge part of our strategy,” Marino said. Like other publishers, Hodinkee has also sought to expand its newsletter presence. Although the publisher offers only a single, daily newsletter, it has more than 1 million free subscribers and an open rate of 51%, the publisher said. Diversified revenue through insurance, new advertisers, resale and a store In tandem with its efforts to widen its audience aperture, the company has recently launched a number of new commercial initiatives. The publisher debuted a watch insurance product in 2020, in partnership with Chubb, that now insures more than $400 million in watches, according to Fowler. Hodinkee has also worked to expand its advertising base beyond endemic brands, especially in other luxury sectors like furniture, audio equipment and lifestyle products. It plans to unveil its first physical store in 2023, a symbolic evolution for one of the few watch brands to launch as a digital-only venture. The store will sell watches, other items and distribute its biannual print magazine. While promising, these ventures play largely complementary roles to the purchase of Crown & Caliber, whose acquisition helped raise the annual revenue of Hodinkee from $25 million in 2020 to over $100 million in 2021. Combined, the company claims to have sold almost 35,000 watches and 70,000 products in 2021. However, onboarding Crown & Caliber, which is based in Atlanta, posed logistical challenges for the publisher, according to a source familiar with the matter—and Hodinkee has lately faced pressure from new entrants in the space, such as Bevel. To justify its $100 million valuation—and find profitability in its expanded form—it will have to strike a new balance between its devotees and a broader, more general-interest readership. How Food52 Pioneered a Commerce-First Model That Incorporates Its Audience