Mashable hires Southeast Asia editor ahead of APAC expansion

Mashable will be launching a dedicated Asia site later this year, similar to Mashable UK and Mashable Australia, which are now both live, and Mashable India, which was announced earlier this year and is set to go live in the coming months.

The global media company currently employs around 250 employees around the world and claims 43 million unique visitors every month and 24 million social followers across all platforms. Headquartered in New York, Mashable says that half of its audience comes from outside of the US, with Southeast Asia generally its fifth or sixth largest market globally.

As part of its Asia expansion, the company has hired Victoria Ho to lead Mashable’s editorial operations in Southeast Asia, which is set to launch in September this year. Ho will work alongside Gwendolyn Regina, Mashable’s director of strategy and business development for Asia-Pacific, who said the company would be looking to grow the team in APAC to four or more by early 2016.

Regina and Ho will be both be based out of Singapore.

Ho joins Mashable from migme, a social entertainment platform aimed at the world's next wave of Internet users, where she has been an senior editor since September. She has worked as a writer for TechCrunch Asia and has contributed to The Business Times, Nikkei Asian Review, The Straits Times and Women’s Wear Daily.

“Mashable has always had a large international presence,” Jim Roberts, Mashable's chief content officer said. “Approximately half of our audience comes to us from outside the US, with Southeast Asia being one of our largest markets. We feel that there is a huge opportunity from both an editorial and business perspective to expand our voice and reach within this region.”

Roberts added that Mashable Asia will focus on “digital technology and culture and the forces that shape events and influence people's lives” in the region.
 

“We’ll continue to tell stories that inform, entertain and inspire, using the same digital storytelling techniques our audiences around the world have come to expect from Mashable. Asia has its own social media ecosystem—players like LINE, Weibo and WeChat—and we see this as an opportunity for Mashable to build its global audience,” Roberts said.

Regina told Campaign Asia-Pacific that the initial focus for the company would be on creating content, building an audience through social media and growing Mashable’s brand awareness across the region. 

“As of right now we’re looking to grow Mashable Asia organically, but in the future we are also open to potentially exploring distribution and content partnerships that can help achieve those goals,” she said.

“On the advertising side, we’re starting from scratch in the region, so it’s important for us to get in front of advertisers, educate them on our brand and offerings, and hear from them in terms of how they want to engage with a digital media company like ours.”

Mashable will be looking to provide the same offerings to brands in Southeast Asia to that of the rest of the world, Regina added, including custom branded content programs and display advertising across the website and Mashable apps.

“We’ll also be looking at opportunities to engage with brands in ways that might be more unique to the region,” Regina said.