Millennials are accused of many things, including to stay out of what their fathers did. They do not want a mortgage, do not marry and, of course, pass the nine o’clock newscast to learn what is happening in the world. This does not mean they are not reported: they do on the network. And although the millennials still read headers weight as The New York Times, as shown by the latest data disaggregated by age Comscore, or some means which have always existed (they have not stopped reading Vogue or even The Wall Street Journal ) the truth is that there are certain ways that have achieved success and overwhelming special niche between that way.

The main examples are Vice , Buzzfeed and Mic, which are three of the leading (and modern) publications online in English and are strongly millennial. The hearings of these headers are clearly lopsided towards Generation Y or Millennials (those born between 1980 and according to who says, mid-90s or 2000). According to data from Comscore for Digiday, more than half of the readers of these media are millennials. In the case of Mic , it is 60%, that of Vice 57% and that ofBuzzfeed 56%.

The list of headers studied also includes emerging Upworthy , Vocativ or Ozy, although in the latter heads the public is not so purely millennial.

How they have conquered? The reasons differ somewhat if you go to each of the exact cases but in general can be found many common points between each other: headers conscious design as the millennials value how you present things; allow multiplatform consume content, such as YouTube videos example; and they have accepted the challenge of serious content and quality.

“This generation really looking for serious content , ” he told Digiday David Burstein, author of Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping Our World . “People of that generation does not want to feel like I have to go to the pool of kids to get information. That is why The New York Times is widely read among young people.” Because millennials may love videos of kittens, but also who are now watching information programs on American television.

“To build a brand for twentysomethings who are proud to be informed, we want to be the company’s news and media most important of our generation , ” said co – founder Mic Christopher Altchek, after receiving an injection of capital of 5 million dollars to their environment. Now openingMic is a long analysis of Obama’s position on the ISIS.

The case of Vice

Vice just got a capital injection of 500 million dollars , in one of the most powerful financial industry movements of the media in late summer. The company announced in a statement that it will use the capital injection for technical improvements and quality content. The magazine was born 20 years ago in Montreal, Canada, but ended up moving to Brooklyn (which is the new world capital of cool and what Hipster ). Initially, the magazine was a punk publication (and with a curious story behind: he was born thanks to a program of public support of the Canadian government in social assistance to improve the community) and since then has become one of the icons young people what they read.

“Everything we do in Vice has a social and economic context , ” explains Andy Capper, editor of the British edition. “I guess we’re like The Economistwill mix with the Rolling Stone “, said the Independent before to laugh and point out sounding “stupid”. They are considered a news medium, but certainly not leave the humorous and ironic tone and therefore not waive issues draft. In recent years they have written or addressed issues as diverse as the Taliban, North Korea or ISIS and they have not, as is customary on the Internet, from the comfort of writing, but in situ.

The average (which is in a “hot” moment of fame) is right there one of the basic points on which its success rests: also addresses issues of great significance and does so with deployment of media. Furthermore, although they were born first as a header on paper and then became publisher not have been alone in that and have become a fully transmedia brand (have YouTube channel success and do things for television) that is what your target audience are looking for . The millennials are multiscreen and multiintereses, so to speak, and the company has responded to these needs.They have also been able to see beyond the usual polarization of the media.

“People who are between 18 to 35 years is totally frustrated with traditional media , ” says Woody Marshall, one of the firms that participated in the latest round of investment of Vice. “It is on one hand the liberal ideology, on the other conservative. All they want is a good story.”

And although the general trend is to be noted that the Internet alone triumphs him just superficial, have opted for the gonzo journalism and the variety of topics (serious coexist with drugs, sex and rock & roll , as summarized some US media have addressed their last injection of capital).The value of the company is already in the 2,500 million dollars, a figure that few can dream means.

Buzzfeed, the king of listicle

In front of them, Buzzfeed has achieved last more discreet investment and a lower valuation. They got 50 million dollars (but 25 Andreessen Horowitz, which is a guarantee seal almost on the network) and a valuation of 850 million dollars (well below the Vice but possibly well above which could be granted some influential headers in other markets). The company has become the queen of listicle , this tendency in the media to publish all lists format. Its contents enchant millennials because they are original, funny and input, rapid consumption.

Although in reality, Buzzfeed is more than that. In fact, the firm itself divided between the nutritional content and delicious. On the last point, it is where those fun and especially close to their readers contents are. “Check out the travel section of The New York Times or House & Garden” notesJonathan Perelman, one of the directors of Buzzfeed . “The most indebted generation in history is not interested in a trip of $ 12,000 south of Fracia. That does not fit with what they are.”

In the former are long reports (and the format longform starts to get cool fashion among publications, all all) on subjects as varied. There may be an article long range with impressions of two men watching for the first time a sentimental film, but on the list of long articles there is also one to two undocumented children, racial protests or ISIS uses oil in its financing . In fact, in recent years, Buzzfeed has been stealing many of the major media weight these journalists getting Pulitzer nominations.

In the case of Buzzfeed , the contents were part of his success but above all what has made them successful and what has become one of the means of head of the millennials was his mastery of what works or not in the social world. Buzzfeed is a means of viral teacher. Its founder, Jonah Peretti, premiered in fact in the net with a viral: he faced customer service Nike when he was a student at MIT and got his claim leap to the media. It was back in 2001 and was the first step of a career for some of the most influential network headers in the last decade. In 2006 he became the head of the department of viral Huffington Post and a few years after independence to create your own header.

The media is obsessed with the data (only have a department for analysis) and see what works well and what does not. And of course he is involved with social networks: a Buzzfeed is not reached by Google News, but rather through what a friend has posted on Facebook.