Voxxi

Voxxi, stylized as VOXXI, was a website that was launched by Spaniard journalist Emilio Sánchez (former EFE staff)[1] and investor Salomon Melgen in 2011[2] but was shut down in 2015 amidst Melgen being charged for fraud by the US Justice Department and an unsuccessful business strategy.[3]

VOXXI
TypePrivate
IndustryNews Website
FounderEmilio Sánchez and Salomon Melgen
Area served
Worldwide
Websitewww.voxxi.com

The news site was created in order to distribute content for Latino individuals whose dominant language was English,[2] in competition with services provided by English-based news services looking to expand their influence in the Latino marketplace.[4] At its 2011 launch at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Voxxi partnered with the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts in the promotion of the advancement of Latino people in America.[5]

Voxxi launched with a variety of sections (referred to by Sanchez as "verticals") including politics, health, education, sports and entertainment. Ivonne Malaver was the original editor-in-chief but was soon relieved of her position and Sanchez assumed the role himself while hiring editors for each section. This translated into a surge in traffic and in turn, into more funding for the site, which now had millions of visitors.

In 2013, Voxxi stopped publishing health content and instead launched a stand-alone site called Saludify as part of a vertical site strategy consisting of "launching targeted niche sites to offer advertisers very desirable audiences" under the Voxxi umbrella.[6] Saludify.com had a variety of health-related sections including Prevention, Psychology, Fitness, Nutrition, Sexuality, Health news and Children’s Health, among others.[7]

Although VOXXI started operation with a number of staff members, including developers, marketing specialists, editors, social media managers and a large pool of writers and contributors, which for many months led to millions of visitors per month and a strong following in social media, Sanchez and Melgen decided to switch gears in 2013 and continue operation with only three people on staff, a handful of interns and a few writers. Site traffic for Voxxi and Saludify steeply and significantly declined.[8]

In 2014, Sanchez associated with InteractiveONE[9] in an effort to revert to higher traffic days but the partnership was unsuccessful.

In of March 2015, VOXXI and Saludify quietly shut down. Sanchez later admitted in written statement that this was partly due to the failure in building enough traffic to secure revenue.[10]

"A lack of funding, erroneous strategy, fierce competition, insufficient web traffic and other market factors have forced the shutdown of VOXXI, three years after its launch," explained Media Moves.[8]

References
  1. "Emilio C. Sánchez". Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  2. Portada Online (November 28, 2011). "Voxxi launches a new site catering to acculturated Latinos". New Generation Latino Consortium. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  3. Jorgensen, Sarah (2017-09-05). "Who is Salomon Melgen? | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
  4. Leslie Berestein Rojas (February 10, 2012). "Why English-language content for Latinos is the future". Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  5. "EU portal seeks to conquer the Hispanic market Anglophone". February 12, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  6. "Portada: Voxxi launches Saludify, bets on Vertical Site Strategy". 2013-03-26. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  7. "New Latino Health Site Saludify.com Educates Hispanics about Health and Wellness". 2013-03-25. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  8. "Voxxi Archives - Media Moves". Media Moves. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  9. "VOXXI partners with Interactive ONE for Sales and Content Development". 2013.
  10. "VOXXI, the Popular Independent News Outlet, Closes its Doors". Latin Post. 2015-03-26. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
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