About The Onion
The Onion is a Media & Entertainment company based in Chicago (United States) founded in 1988, and was acquired by G/O Media in April 2024. Satirical news and entertainment content is published on digital platforms. Its website theonion.com draws about 3.9 million monthly visits. Its focus areas include Internet First Media, Lifestyle, Thematic and Diversified. Its competitors include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck; 2 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
The Onion is a satirical news and entertainment platform that publishes articles on the international, national, and local news. The company started out as a print publication but went all-digital in 2013. Owns and operates 4 digital media properties - theOnion.com, AV Club, ClickHole, and Onion Studios. Articles cover real and fictional current events through stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, and interviews using a traditional news website layout with an editorial voice. As of December 2016, claims a reach of 50M unique monthly users across its 4 properties with a total social reach of 250M.
- Headquarters Chicago, United States
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsMedia & Entertainment
- Website category Arts and Entertainment · Humor
- Email••••••••
- Phone•••• ••••
- Website theonion.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook Instagram YouTube
- Acquired by Great Hill Partners (Apr 2019)
Apps and channels of The Onion
its YouTube channel The Onion has 3.06M subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from The Onion
The most watched videos on The Onion's YouTube channel, The Onion (3.06M subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on The Onion.
Investors in The Onion
The Onion has secured backing from 3 investors, including venture fund and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Univision, G/O Media and Great Hill Partners.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Business acquisitions are targeted by the private equity firm. | greathillpartners.com | Boston, United States | ||
General entertainment content is broadcast via a television network. | 1961 | univision.com | Miami, United States | |
Advertising services are provided by G/O Media to media clients. | 2019 | g-omedia.com | Yonkers, United States |
Investor details for The Onion
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People of The Onion
69 people are tracked at The Onion (7 in leadership, 62 in team).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Karl Blomberg | Director, Photography | Leadership |
Ryan Natoli | Video Director | Leadership |
Mike Gillis | Head Writer | Leadership |
Samantha Hungerford | Deputy Managing Editor | Leadership |
Chad Nackers | Editor in Chief | Leadership |
Jimmy Hasse | Creative Director, Editorial | Leadership |
Nathan Rabin | Head Entertainment Writer | Leadership |
Virginia Dickens | Headline Contributor | Team |
Phoebe Stonebraker | Features Contributor | Team |
Karl Gustafson | Graphics Editor | Team |
Lauren Moser | Senior Editor | Team |
Tricia England | Contributing Writer | Team |
Alex Furlin | Senior Contributing Writer | Team |
Teddy Sevilla | Features Contributor | Team |
Tyler Martindale | Headline Contributor | Team |
Emily Clouse | Senior Contributing Video Writer | Team |
Elizabeth Stamp | Senior Contributing Video Writer | Team |
Devin Schiff | Features Editor | Team |
Danny Mulligan | Senior Editor | Team |
John Krewson | Contributing Editor | Team |
49 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for The Onion
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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Timeline of The Onion
4 dated milestones of The Onion across 36 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded The Onion is founded.
- Exit Acquired by Univision.
- Exit Acquired by Great Hill Partners.
- Exit Acquired by G/O Media.
Competitors of The Onion
The Onion has 3 listed competitors in our database, 2 of them funded. They include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| brightly.eco | 2018 | San Francisco, United States | $1.9M | 185 | Online platform offering diversified lifestyle news | |
| littlethings.com | 2014 | New York, United States | 93 | Digital media platform with inspirational content | ||
| puck.news | 2021 | Brooklyn, United States | $20M | Blogs on Hollywood, media, fashion, and related topics are published. |
Detailed competitors of The Onion
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
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Web traffic of The Onion
The website of The Onion (theonion.com) receives about 3.9M visits a month and ranks #16,296 among all websites worldwide, #1,439 in Humor.
- Monthly visits3.9M
▼ 1.5% vs previous month
- Unique visitors1.5M
per month
- Global rank#16,296
among all websites
- Category rank#1,439
Arts and Entertainment · Humor
- Bounce rate49%
- Pages per visit2.7
- Average visit1 min 55 sec
- DevicesDesktop 29% · Mobile 71%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with The Onion. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cracked.com | 100% | 4.1M | #16,055 | View details | |
| clickhole.com | 87% | 280.4K | #186,498 | View details | |
| avclub.com | 83% | 4.9M | #14,344 | View details | |
| xkcd.com | 76% | #9,234 | View details | ||
thehardtimes.net | thehardtimes.net | 74% | #180,994 | – | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for The Onion
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- 40 similar websites
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Top companies in DTC Media Innovators
3 companies that operate in the same segment as The Onion (DTC Media Innovators) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Multi-category news is delivered through an app-based platform. | 2016 | Arlington, Virginia, United States | USD 30 M | 356 | ||
Online platform publishing content focusing on investment | 2011 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | USD 60.4 M | |||
Subscription-based sports media is delivered to local premium audiences. | 2016 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | USD 134.42 M |
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Related news about The Onion
Complete news archive for The Onion
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Frequently Asked Questions about The Onion
The Onion was founded in 1988.
The Onion is headquartered in Chicago, United States. It is registered at Chicago, Illinois, United States.
The Onion is a satirical news and entertainment platform that publishes articles on the international, national, and local news. The company started out as a print publication but went all-digital in 2013. Owns and operates 4 digital media properties - theOnion.com, AV Club, ClickHole, and Onion Studios. Articles cover real and fictional current events through stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, and interviews using a traditional news website layout with an editorial voice. As of December 2016, claims a reach of 50M unique monthly users across its 4 properties with a total social reach of 250M.
The Onion's top competitors include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck.
The Onion has 3 investors. Key investors include Univision, G/O Media, and Great Hill Partners.
Yes. The Onion was acquired by Great Hill Partners in April 2019.
The website of The Onion receives about 3.9 million visits a month and ranks #16,296 among all websites worldwide.