SAY Media
SAY Media is a San Francisco-based digital media company founded in 2005 that provides a technology platform and media services enabling brands to engage audiences through its portfolio of owned content properties including ReadWrite, Remodelista, Dogster, and Six Apart.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What SAY Media does
SAY Media is a San Francisco-based digital media company founded in 2005 that provides a technology platform and media services enabling brands to engage with their target audiences. Operating as a private for-profit entity with 251-500 employees, the company has historically positioned itself at the intersection of content publishing, audience engagement, and brand marketing solutions.
Over its operating history, SAY Media pursued an aggressive growth-through-acquisition strategy, executing five acquisitions between 2006 and 2011, including POPcast Communications (2006), Six Apart (2010), Dogster (2011), Remodelista (2011), and ReadWrite (2011). These acquisitions assembled a portfolio of niche content properties spanning technology media, lifestyle/design, pet communities, and blogging platforms (via Six Apart's Movable Type). The company raised approximately $81.8 million across nine funding rounds from 2005 through 2015, drawing investment from August Capital, First Round Capital, New Enterprise Associates, WPP Ventures, Maveron, Correlation Ventures, Focus Ventures, Neoteny Labs, Rose Tech Ventures, Shea Ventures, and NFX.
The source material discloses no revenue figures, pricing models, or specific customer relationships for SAY Media, and no funding activity has been recorded since June 2015. Detailed product, technology, and customer data provided in the input appears to pertain to The Arena Group rather than SAY Media, creating a significant data gap. Based on the available evidence, SAY Media's current operational scale and revenue remain undisclosed, and the absence of post-2015 funding or M&A activity may indicate strategic contraction or operational maturity without external capital dependency.
SAY Media firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SAY Media
- Legal name
- The Arena Group Holdings, Inc.
- Website
- https://saymedia.com
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- SAY Media is a San Francisco-based digital media company founded in 2005 that provides a technology platform and media services enabling brands to engage audiences through its portfolio of owned content properties including ReadWrite, Remodelista, Dogster, and Six Apart.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SAY Media industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Media Services
- NAICS
- Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Consumer News & Digital Newsrooms (Web/App-First) (MPAJADAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio) (BPAFABAB)
Keywords
Where SAY Media is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
SAY Media business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Display Advertising: Revenue from direct sales, programmatic guaranteed deals, PMPs (Private Marketplaces), and open exchange programmatic advertising across the company's digital media brands.
- Commerce: Audience-led e-commerce revenue generated through data-driven commerce signals that maximize advertising and conversion effectiveness.
- Branded Content & Sponsorship: Revenue from crafting inspiring stories and bringing media brands to life through authentic, passionate audiences online and through IRL (in-real-life) experiences.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels1 record
SAY Media product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SAY Media is a digital media company that provides a technology platform and media services for brands to engage with their audiences. The company combines proprietary digital media technology with content, audience, and advertising capabilities to deliver brand-driven digital engagement across owned and partner channels.
Product overview
The Arena Group operates as a brand, data, and IP company that builds, acquires, and scales high-performing digital media assets. The company offers a portfolio of lifestyle media brands (TheStreet, Parade, Men's Journal, Athlon Sports, Surfer, Autoblog) spanning sports & leisure, lifestyle, and finance verticals. These brands are supported by proprietary technology capabilities including an audience targeting platform, commerce solutions, display advertising (Direct, Programmatic Guaranteed, PMP, Open Exchange), and branded content & sponsorship services. The company positions its addressable audience data and user management platform as the core differentiator enabling partner solutions across the purchase funnel.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- TheStreet: Financial news and analysis brand
- Parade
- Men's Journal
- Athlon Sports
- Surfer
- Autoblog
Products and services
- SAY Media Technology Platform Proprietary technology platform that powers digital media publishing, audience targeting, and brand engagement capabilities for the company's brand clients.
- Brand Media Services Media services that help brands create, distribute, and amplify content to engage with their target audiences through digital channels, including branded content, sponsorship, and audience-led commerce.
- Display Advertising Digital advertising offerings including direct sales, programmatic guaranteed, private marketplace (PMP), and open exchange placements across the company's digital media properties.
- Audience Targeting Audience targeting service that leverages fully addressable inventory and proprietary data to curate audience segments connecting advertisers to consumers in key moments across the purchase funnel.
- Branded Content and Sponsorship Custom storytelling and sponsorship offerings that connect brand partners with authentic, passionate audiences through online media properties and in-person (IRL) experiences.
- Audience-Led Commerce Audience-led e-commerce capabilities that use data signals to maximize advertising effectiveness and conversion for brand partners across the company's digital media properties.
Companies that use SAY Media
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
SAY Media technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
SAY Media partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights3 records
SAY Media competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Group Nine Media: Digital media holding company operating NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker, and Thrillist — comparable multi-brand digital media rollup with vertical specialization and audience-led commerce capabilities.
- Vox Media: Operates a portfolio of editorial brands (Vox, The Verge, Eater, SB Nation) supported by a proprietary publishing platform (Chorus) — same dual platform-plus-content business model as SAY Media, with deeper scale.
- Mashable: Digital-first publisher focused on tech, culture, and lifestyle content with a similar web/app-first audience engagement model — historically a direct competitor to SAY Media's ReadWrite brand.
- BuzzFeed: Digital-first media company operating a portfolio of consumer brands (BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty) monetized through display advertising, branded content, and commerce — directly comparable to SAY Media's owned-brand, ad-supported model.
- Medium: Digital publishing platform enabling both individual creators and editorial brands to publish and monetize content — directly comparable to the platform layer of SAY Media's offering.
- Vice Media: Multi-vertical digital media company targeting younger audiences across news, lifestyle, and culture verticals with branded content as a primary revenue stream — closely analogous to SAY Media's brand portfolio strategy.
Broad incumbents
- Red Ventures (CNET, ZDNet): Digital media holding company operating tech and consumer verticals including CNET and ZDNet — similar acquisition-led strategy targeting vertical digital media brands for performance-driven monetization.
- Ziff Davis: Public digital media holding company with deep vertical brands in tech, gaming, and lifestyle — broader scale but the same playbook of acquiring and operating niche digital media brands for ad/commerce revenue.
- Dotdash Meredith (IAC): Large public digital media portfolio combining Dotdash's vertical content brands with Meredith's legacy publishing properties — comparable multi-brand strategy and similar reliance on display + commerce monetization.
- Penske Media Corporation: Multi-brand media company operating Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and WWD — similar vertical-specialist brand portfolio targeting premium advertising and branded-content sponsorships.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
SAY Media social profiles
Digital presenceSAY Media financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SAY Media leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
SAY Media subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries6 records
SAY Media funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds10 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SAY Media M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A5 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SAY Media
What does SAY Media do?
SAY Media is a digital media company that provides a technology platform and media services for brands to engage with their audiences. The company combines proprietary digital media technology with content, audience, and advertising capabilities to deliver brand-driven digital engagement across owned and partner channels.
Is SAY Media a public or private company?
SAY Media is a public company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was SAY Media founded?
SAY Media was founded in 2005. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is SAY Media based?
SAY Media is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does SAY Media make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Display Advertising is the primary driver. The others are commerce and branded Content & Sponsorship.
Who are SAY Media's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Group Nine Media, Vox Media, Mashable, BuzzFeed, Medium and Vice Media. Broad incumbents are Red Ventures (CNET, ZDNet), Ziff Davis, Dotdash Meredith (IAC) and Penske Media Corporation.
Does SAY Media have an API?
No public API is recorded for SAY Media.
What industry is SAY Media in?
SAY Media's product category is Digital Media Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAD, Consumer News & Digital Newsrooms (Web/App-First), with a secondary code of BPAFABAB, Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio). Its NAICS code is 516 and its SIC code is 2741.