Digital Spy
Digital Spy began not as a media giant but as a fan project run out of personal webspace borrowed from internet service providers. In early January 1999, Iain Chapman launched a website dedicated to Sky's new digital satellite platform, SkyDigital, posting news, rumours, and technical information for curious viewers trying to make sense of the UK's rapidly changing television landscape. At the same moment, a separate developer named Chris Butcher was doing the same thing for a rival platform. His site, ONfaq, covered the UK's new digital terrestrial service ONdigital. Both sites attracted visitors hungry for information about technologies that were brand new and moving fast.
The two founders connected and recognised the obvious: their audiences overlapped, their subjects were adjacent, and their combined reach would be greater than either site alone. On the 28th of February 1999, the two merged under the banner of a new network. More sites quickly joined. Chris Norris contributed a site covering NTL and TeleWest cable services. Mark Hughes brought DVDNews, focused on DVD releases and reviews. Neil Wilkes added TV:uk, which covered television news and gossip. The network was growing, but it was still held together loosely, hosted on personal ISP accounts rather than a proper infrastructure. That would soon change.
On the 1st of March 2000, Digital Spy's forums went live, built on a platform called UBB. Online forums were then among the most engaging features a website could offer, and the DS Forum gave readers a place to debate and discuss the entertainment they were following. The community that formed there would eventually number in the hundreds of thousands.
The news portal itself did not launch under the Digital Spy name until the 19th of May 2001, running on a custom-built content management system called RAMS, short for Remote Article Management System. That same year, Digital Spy Limited was formally incorporated. The founding shareholders named in the incorporation were Alan Jay, Neil Wilkes, and Mark Hughes, with Iain Chapman, Jose Cardoso, and James Welsh joining the share structure later. The site had moved from a hobbyist network hosted on borrowed webspace to a registered company with a named editorial infrastructure.
By 2008, Digital Spy had grown large enough to attract a major publishing company. On the 9th of April 2008, an announcement confirmed that the website had been purchased by Hachette Filipacchi UK, a subsidiary of the Paris-based Lagardere Group, for a sum described only as "significant." The sale placed a site that had started as fan-driven satellite coverage inside one of the largest magazine empires in Europe.
The editorial leadership also shifted in this period. In March 2011, David Moynihan, who had previously served as editor of NME and FHM, replaced Neil Wilkes as Editor. Wilkes had been one of the original contributors to the pre-merger network and a named founding shareholder of Digital Spy Limited. His replacement by an editor with mainstream magazine credentials signalled the kind of professionalisation that large-scale acquisition tends to bring. Within months, ownership of the site would transfer again.
On the 1st of August 2011, Hearst Magazines UK acquired ownership of Hachette UK, bringing Digital Spy into a new parent company without disrupting its editorial team or day-to-day operations. Hearst is one of the largest media and information companies in the United States, and Digital Spy became its largest digital property in the UK.
Awards followed the transition. On the 2nd of May 2013, Digital Spy won Media Editorial Team of the Year at the British Media Awards. In July 2014, the site took Consumer Website of the Year at the AOP Digital Publishing Awards. In October 2015, Digital Spy migrated away from its long-running RAMS content management system and onto a newer platform called Media OS, developed internally by Hearst. The following month, Julian Linley, formerly editor of Heat magazine, was appointed Editor in Chief. In November 2016, Matt Hill, who had previously edited both T3 and Gizmodo UK, was named Editor.
In January 2017, Digital Spy became an official partner of the National Television Awards, held at The O2 Arena and broadcast live on ITV. The NTA partnership represented a step into live television territory for a site that had started by covering television from the outside. Nine months after that partnership was announced, Digital Spy won PPA Digital Content Team of the Year. The site was also shortlisted that year for Website of the Year and Content Team Leader of the Year. In December 2017, nearly one million readers voted in the DS Reader Awards. By October 2018, Digital Spy had won PPA Digital Content Team of the Year for the second consecutive year.
In 2008, the same year as the Hachette acquisition, Digital Spy held its first Soap Awards. The nominations shortlist was curated by the site's soaps editor, Kris Green. The inaugural winners covered fourteen categories. EastEnders took Best Soap. James Sutton, playing John Paul McQueen in Hollyoaks, won Most Popular Actor. Jo Joyner, as Tanya Branning in EastEnders, won Most Popular Actress. The Villain of the Year award went to Jack P. Shepherd for his portrayal of David Platt in Coronation Street. Storyline of the Year recognised the affair between John Paul and Craig, played by Guy Burnet, in Hollyoaks. The awards even included a category for Best Pet, won by Wellard, played by a dog named Kyte, from EastEnders.
The format evolved over time. From 2014, the awards were rebranded as the Digital Spy Reader Awards, shifting the selection process so that readers themselves voted on the best moments across various categories. That participatory model scaled significantly: by December 2017, the Reader Awards were drawing nearly one million votes.
On the 22nd of March 2021, Digital Spy announced that it would be shutting down several of its non-entertainment discussion forums, specifically areas covering topics such as Politics and General Discussion. The site said it was retaining forums focused on Film, Entertainment, and Television in order to refocus around its core editorial identity. No confirmed date was given for when the closures would take effect.
The closure happened suddenly, just 24 hours after the announcement. There had been no warning before the 22nd of March notice, and the speed of the shutdown caught the site's long-standing membership off guard. The DS Forum had been live since the 1st of March 2000, meaning some members had participated in those communities for more than two decades. The decision to close the general-discussion sections while preserving the entertainment-focused ones pointed toward a narrower editorial mission for the site going forward.
Common questions
What is Digital Spy and when was it founded?
Digital Spy is a British entertainment, television and film website and the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Iain Chapman launched the original site in early January 1999 to cover Sky's SkyDigital satellite platform, and the Digital Spy brand was formally established after a merger on the 28th of February 1999.
Who owns Digital Spy?
Digital Spy is owned by Hearst Magazines UK, which acquired it on the 1st of August 2011 when Hearst purchased Hachette UK. Before that, it was owned by Hachette Filipacchi UK, a subsidiary of the Lagardere Group, which bought the site in April 2008.
What awards has Digital Spy won?
Digital Spy won Media Editorial Team of the Year at the British Media Awards in 2013, Consumer Website of the Year at the AOP Digital Publishing Awards in 2014, and PPA Digital Content Team of the Year in both 2017 and 2018.
When did the Digital Spy forums launch and what happened to them?
The Digital Spy forums launched on the 1st of March 2000 using the UBB forum platform. In March 2021, Digital Spy closed its non-entertainment forums, including Politics and General Discussion, retaining only Film, Entertainment, and Television forums. The closures happened within 24 hours of the announcement.
What were the first Digital Spy Soap Awards and who won?
Digital Spy held its first Soap Awards in 2008, with nominations chosen by soaps editor Kris Green. EastEnders won Best Soap, James Sutton won Most Popular Actor for his role in Hollyoaks, and Jack P. Shepherd won Villain of the Year for playing David Platt in Coronation Street.
Who are the editors of Digital Spy?
Key editors have included Neil Wilkes, one of the founding contributors, who was replaced in March 2011 by David Moynihan, former editor of NME and FHM. Julian Linley, formerly of Heat magazine, became Editor in Chief in November 2015, followed by Matt Hill, formerly of T3 and Gizmodo UK, in November 2016.