JOE (JOE.ie andJOE.co.uk) is amillennial-focused[2] distributed social media publisher inIreland and theUnited Kingdom, with over 2 million unique visitors per month.[1] It is owned by Greencastle Media Group, which is itself owned by David Sefton, John Quinlan and Paul O'Donohoe.[3][4][5][6][7]
The publisher's original websiteJoe.ie was founded by Irish entrepreneurNiall McGarry.[4][5]Her.ie is a related website aimed at young women in Ireland.HerFamily.ie also forms part of the publishing group.[8] Joe Media Ltd. entered administration in May 2020,[9] exiting in October 2020.[10]
The Joe.ie website was founded in 2010 and nominated in October of that year for aGolden Spider Award in theOne to Watch category.[11][12][13]
The site's Android app has had over 50,000 installs with a ratio of 2:1 for 5 star reviews vs 1 star reviews.[16] In November 2016, TheAdvertising Standards Authority for Ireland upheld a complaint about an advert forSprite which was featured on the site.[15]
SportsJOE.ie was launched in 2014, as an offshoot of JOE.ie, offering "in-depth analysis".[1]Daily Telegraph andSunday Independent sports columnist Dion Fanning moved to the site in 2015.[1][17]
In February 2024, Niamh Geoghegan took on the role of Managing Director of JOE Media Group,[18] having formerly been its Head of Creative Strategy. Ros Madigan, was announced as Head of Content and Social Strategy,[18] leading the strategic content output of all seven brands currently under the Irish arm of JOE Media Group [JOE, Sports JOE, Her, Her Family, Lovin Dublin, Lovin Ireland & Gay Star News].
BBC political researcher Joey D'Urso cited content from JOE.co.uk, such as a video superimposing Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn's face onto that of the rapperStormzy while the leader appears "to rap a list of policies", as an example ofviral social media content which helped Labour's standing in the2017 general election (especially among the youth), but which was not directly funded by the party itself.[21]
In 2018, the company hired Brian Whelan fromChannel 4 News to oversee video operations and the BBC's Simon Clancy to run their podcast shows.[22]
In 2020, JOE andSwedemason won the 2020 "Content Creator of the Year" award in The Drum's online media awards for their viral videos of mashing up politicians' words to fit a song.[23]
PoliticsJOE is the political stream for the media company.[24][25] Previously led byOli Dugmore, who left in October 2025.[26][27][28] PoliticsJOE had the most popular political video of 2019, with over 40 million views.[29] During the2024 United Kingdom general election, the PoliticsJOE podcast had the fifth largest average viewership of UK political podcasts on YouTube.[30]
PoliticsJOE also presentsPoliticsJOE Podcast, where Oli Dugmore,Ava Santina and Ed Campbell discuss political and news events sometimes several times a week.[31]
