 | |
| Formerly | Vancity Buzz |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Founded | 2008  |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia |
Areas served | Calgary,Montreal,Toronto,Edmonton,Vancouver,Seattle,Portland |
| Brands | Daily Hive, Dished, Urbanized, Grow, Colony Digital, ID Agency, Mapped |
| Owner | ZoomerMedia |
Number of employees | 62 (2020) |
| Website | dailyhive |
Daily Hive, formerly known asVancity Buzz, is a Canadianonline newspaper based inVancouver, British Columbia.[1] It began digital publishing in 2008 and becameWestern Canada's largest online-only publication by 2016.[2]
In September 2022,ZoomerMedia announced a deal to acquireDaily Hive for $16.4 million.[3]
The site began its publishing in 2008 under the nameVancity Buzz and was founded by Manny Bahia and Karm Sumal. The name was changed toDaily Hive in 2016 when the company expanded nationally.[4]
Concurrently with its rebranding asDaily Hive, the publication expanded toToronto andMontreal.[5]
In November 2017,Daily Hive deleted many of their posts on their officialInstagram account as a form of viral marketing, inspired byTaylor Swift's similarpublicity stunt earlier in the year. They then posted images of the word "Nude". This stunt caused growth in their social media presence and gained them more followers than before.[6]
In 2018,Daily Hive launched ID Agency, an in-house influencer marketing agency operating out of their Vancouver office.
In 2018,Daily Hive acquired Colony Digital, a full-service creative agency based in Vancouver.
In February 2019,Daily Hive acquiredTorontoist, a long-running web publication that formerly offered similar coverage of Toronto.[7] Originally established in 2004 as part of theGothamist network of city-specific news websites,[8]Torontoist was a property ofSt. Joseph Media from 2011 until its acquisition byDaily Hive.[9] It no longer publishes original content as a separate entity fromDaily Hive.
In 2019,Daily Hive made their first international expansion into the US market, opening channels in bothSeattle andPortland.[10]
Prior to its 2016rebranding asDaily Hive, theVancity Buzz site was the subject of numerous criticisms and controversies. Notable accusations includedunethical journalism practices,plagiarism,[11] andfearmongering.[12]
In 2016, former Vancouver mayorGregor Robertson accusedVancity Buzz of starting a media frenzy when the site published photos of three British tourists that were described as suspicious and "Middle Eastern" in an internal Vancouver Police bulletin.[13][12] Robertson later apologized to the three on behalf of the city.
In 2018, formerVancity Buzz contributor Bartosz Bos sued the organization, alleging that he was owed more than $18,000 in back pay for work done in 2013 that was never compensated.[11]Vancity Buzz was ordered by court to pay Bos $1,000 for "coming unprepared for trial" at a 2020 hearing during the suit.[14]