Coconuts Media is a multi-national media company across Asia that publishes a network of local city websites and documentary videos online. The company serves eight cities and countries across South East Asia, namely

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

, Bali and Yangon, covering local news and cultural trends. using social media and video to increase reach. In addition to English, the company produces content in Thai and

Bahasa Indonesia Indonesian ( ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. Indonesia is t ...

. The core focus of operations is articles including local news and reviews, original features, aggregated content, event guides, restaurant reviews, and translations, in an often humorous voice. In total, Coconuts produces over 100 stories per weekday across the eight countries where it operates. Coconuts Media employs around 40 staff members as of August 2016, half of which are in editorial. In 2015, it had a reported total monthly reach of 14.6 million unique readers across all platforms. Coconuts Media received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 SOPA Awards for Excellence for "Hidden in Plain Sight", a look at the legions of

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and polic ...

in Bangkok. In 2016, Coconuts Hong Kong Managing Editor Laurel Chor won a SOPA for Excellence in Feature Photography in Category B for a profile of Mui Thomas, a young Hong Kong woman with

harlequin ichthyosis Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally b ...

, a very rare and debilitating skin disease. Coconuts Media acquired the Bangkok print and online lifestyle magazine BK Magazine in 2021.

History

Coconuts Media is said to have been inspired by US-based blogs such as the Gothamist network and New York's

Gawker ''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded ...

, as well as BuzzFeed and Vice. The company was founded by American journalist and entrepreneur Byron Perry, out of his Bangkok apartment in September 2011, with Perry reportedly self-publishing nearly all the articles himself in the first months. Perry started his career in journalism as the Editorial Fellow for ''San Francisco Magazine'' before moving on to a copy editor position at the Hollywood trade magazine Variety in Los Angeles. At Variety, he covered movie premieres; wrote the "Players" column on actor castings and "Tenpercenteries" column on talent agency signings; and attended the 2008 Academy Awards as part of Variety’s coverage team. After a brief stint as the Siam Reap Reporter for Cambodia’s English-language newspaper of record, The Phnom Penh Post, Perry moved to Thailand to work for Ensign Media as Executive Editor for real estate trade magazine Property Report and yachting magazine Helm. After a year and a half at Ensign Media, Perry launched Coconuts Media in 2011. Coconuts Media launched in its first international branch in Manila in November 2012, ahead of further expansion into Singapore in August 2013. One month later, it launched a regional office in Hong Kong.

Coconuts TV

Coconuts Media produces in-house and freelance videos as Coconuts TV, with an average of 20,000 to 30,000 views per video. Aside from short reports and original documentaries, Coconuts TV produces

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

, food, and travel reports, aimed at international audiences.

ABS-CBN News partnership

In March 2015, Coconuts Media signed a two-year content partnership with

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

, allowing both parties to exchange news, features and video content on their respective platforms. ABS-CBN said it hoped the deal with help them gain more granular coverage, especially in Southeast Asia, while Coconuts Media said it wanted to expand its coverage of hard news and

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

Funding and revenue

A year after the launch of Coconuts Bangkok in 2011, the company reportedly raised a small and undisclosed round of

Angel funding An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownersh ...

from private investors in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

. They would later go on to report a second round in 2013 after the launch of Coconuts Manila, before scoring a more substantial $2 million round in 2014. The main sources of revenue for Coconuts Media are reported to be traditional online banner ads, sponsored content and video content, with some footage having been sold to unnamed European TV channels. In 2015-2016, Coconuts Media produced a sponsored content package for Thailand’s Singha beer, for which Coconuts TV produced a 12-episode video series on its food channel. Coconuts Media also uses pre-roll ads for onsite videos. Coconuts media reportedly made almost $500,000 in revenue in 2015, with projected revenues in excess of $1 Million for the year of 2016

References

{{reflist, 30em Mass media companies established in 2011 Multinational mass media companies Mass media companies of Hong Kong