Traditional media money continues to flow into the YouTube ecosystem, and multi-channel network StyleHaul is getting a big share.
The Hollywood company, which specializes in YouTube videos about fashion and shopping, announced Tuesday that it has raised $6 million from RTL Group, a TV and radio broadcaster out of Luxembourg.
The investment is part of a series B round that StyleHaul announced in February. At the time, the company had raised $6.5 million led by the digital media investment arm of Bertelsmann.
RTL is majority owned by Bertelsmann, meaning that the German media conglomerate has essentially doubled down on StyleHaul’s $12.5 million B round.
Stephanie Horbaczewski, chief executive of the 35-person YouTube network, said partnering with traditional media opens new doors for StyleHaul.
“We’re very interested in creating new partnerships,” she said. “We want to find new ways to work together and to benefit each other, whether that be content creation or working to promote content created for other mediums – like television.”
The company has been spending its latest funding on growing its executive team and expanding internationally with Spanish and Portuguese language shows.
StyleHaul is also in the process of building out its own website as an alternative to YouTube for watching the network’s videos.
“The website will give people ways to engage more with the content,” Horbaczewski said. “YouTube is an amazing video platform but it’s more restrictive.”
Horbaczewski said StyleHaul isn’t abandoning YouTube, just looking for ways to diversity. In fact, she said StyleHaul is starting to discuss how it might take advantage of the paid subscription model that YouTube launched last week.