Nine’s Pedestrian to revive Vice and launch Refinery29 in Australia

Less than a year after Vice shrunk its local operations almost to the point of non-existence, Pedestrian has announced it will revive the media brand and launch women’s media site Refinery29 in the local market.

Despite Vice’s previous difficulties locally, and the shuttering of other digital newsrooms including Buzzfeed, 10 Daily, and whimn.com.au, Pedestrian’s CEO Matt Rowley is confident both Vice and Refinery29 will be set up for success.

“In the Pedestrian Group, we’ve actually seen growth year-on-year,” Rowley told reporters, addressing the local media landscape’s condensing.