Vice Media is preparing to launch Australian versions of its women's and sports websites by the end of 2015, with local managing director Myki Slonim crediting long-form video for the millennial media group's expansion. 
Vice, whose eponymous magazine - often referred to as the hipster's bible - launched in Australia 12 years ago, has seen its popularity and notoriety soar in recent years after a decision to invest heavily in video content and the launch of 11 various websites in Australia.
It has partnered with the ABC, which broadcast its Indigenous incarceration documentary, Over-Represented, on ABC2, as well as Fairfax Media, publisher of The Australian Financial Review and BusinessDay, in getting its video content out to a wider audience.
"As soon as we moved into video content, that's when the jets really turned on," Mr Slonim said. "The nature of what we do is put videos out there and people find them and run with them, which is great; it expands our footprint, audience and brings new people into the fold for further pathways back to all the other content."
Vice has attracted huge interest among major media players in the US. Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox took out a 5 per cent stake in 2013 for $US70 million and his son, James, joined the media group's board.
Another round of funding in 2014; $US500 million split evenly between A&E Networks, which is owned by Disney and Hearst Corporation, and silicon valley fund Technology Crossover Ventures for a 10 per cent stake each, valued Vice at $US2.5 billion.
While Vice would not comment on local audience numbers, globally the group has been getting 96 million unique visitors a month across its networks, which does not include YouTube, social media or television shows.
Vice commercial director Alex Light said the local operations were profitable, self-sustaining and had been expanding, with staff numbers doubling in the past 12 months to 50 people and the local arm's editorial headquarters recently moving into new offices with new editing suites, production and sound studios to cope with the current and expected demand for content.
"Working with advertisers is core to our business. We make money in two ways; we sell eyeballs on our sites like all media companies do and the growth of the sites," he said. "The other half of our business is working with brands to do what we do as a company for them. We're able to create that immersive and long-form storytelling for brands."
Mr Slonim said: "Our approach to storytelling is however long it takes to tell the story, we'll do that. When we first started on YouTube, people were telling us it's all about snackable short-form content, short attention spans ... what we actually found is that our long-form, 20-minute-plus documentaries go deep."