Complex

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Complex is a multifaceted media platform serving content on youth culture that's based out of New York City. It initially launched as a bi-monthly magazine aimed at young males (ages 16-29), founded by fashion designer Mark Eckō in 2002, but quickly became attracted to the fast-developing digital field, and after the January/December 2016 issue, which featured Pusha T and Sofia Richie on the cover, ceased its print operation. Online, Complex reaches over 90 million unique users per month across all of its different properties, which include owned-and-operated staples such as video series Complex News and music site Pigeons and Planes. Complex reports on fashion, pop culture, music, sports, sneakers and, most recently, politics, usually doing so through a niche cultural lens that favors the tastes of streetwear and hip-hop.

History Complex was founded in 2002 by Mark Eckō , the head of urban fashion house Ecko Unltd., and its name evolved from a reference to the brand's website. According to Complex, "In the early aughts Ecko Unltd merchandise had tags that said ecko.complex. The idea was to evoke images of an "Ecko Complex" as in the Ecko Place, Ecko Factory, or Ecko Zone." The magazine's founders strove to combine Eckō's streetwear and hip-hop attitude with the formatting of Japanese men's magazines that provide straight-forward consumer guides, and to achieve this vision, they created a magazine that printed in two sections: one traditional, and the other a shopping guide.

In 2006, with the magazine earning just 5% of the company's annual revenue,Complex began pivoting away from print and focusing more attentively on emphasizing its digital presence. The online publishing sphere was still vastly underdeveloped, with linking strategies reigning supreme and exclusive publisher relationships going largely un-marketed. So, as Complex Media CEO Rich Antoniello said, the brand began aiming to become, "the best of both worlds," and to "eliminate all the problems." Doing so meant bundling up "vertical, nontraditional small publishers that have custom followers that are consistent with brands in the magazine — sneaker, music, style, video gaming" to be included in their online empire, thus expanding their online reach and, in turn, that of their advertisers.

In September, 2006, Complex enlisted Noah Callahan-Bever as its editor-in-chief, promoting the former deputy editor to replace Richard Martin. Before attaining the post, Callahan-Bever served as editor in chief of Mass Appeal and also contributed as a writer for MTV’s Direct Effect and MTV News. Rich Antoniello, then just a publisher at the magazine, announced his appointment in a statement, saying: "[Callahan-Bever] has been a major force behind the magazine’s growth and continued momentum. He is an excellent leader and an outstanding journalist who has exactly what it takes to advance the magazine to new heights.”

Complex Media Network launched in 2007 to better organize the company's expanding digital network, and to help market the affordances of the network to potential advertisers more efficiently. At its launch, the media company raised $12 million through Austin Ventures and Accel Partners, and also solidified an association with websites such as nicekicks.com and unabashedlyprep.com through two- and four-year contracts with 100 percent exclusivity.

“We’re more of a collective of sites," described appointed Complex Media CEO Rich Antoniello, going on to call all Complex-affiliated properties "as close to owned and operated as possible." Describing the commercial value of such a bundle, Antoniello explains: “Instead of having a philosophy of, here are some sites your ad might appear on, we’re able to say, here’s where they will be and with this audience: this is exactly where your ads will run.” Such simple language eases Complex Media's partnerships with major players like Coors, AT&T, Ford, McDonald's, Nike, Adidas and Apple.