Disney buys modern mom blog platform Babble Media

The acquisition ushers Disney into the parenting blogosphere

Looks like Disney is making a move into the modern mom blogosphere.  The Walt Disney Company announced Monday that it has acquired Babble Media, a blogging platform featuring some 200 educated and modern mom bloggers.  The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It seems like providing content for the thinking parent is an endeavor many parenting blogs have attempted, but at which few have succeeded—because it’s such a fine line between the educated, modern parent and the yuppie parent.  Babble Media seems to have struck a balance with blogs for working parents, blogs for first-time parents, blogs for parents who give their kids names like Winston and Beckett, and more.

Founded in December 2006 by husband-and-wife team Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman (whose children are named Declan, Grey, and Rye), the Babble Media community has since grown to some 4.5 million members.  

“Of all the would-be homes for Babble, none was more exciting on both a practical and emotional level than the Walt Disney Company,” wrote Griscolm and Volkman in a blog post.  “It is, bar none, the gold standard among media companies for families…No company had better answers, a better understanding of what is special about Babble, and more complementary resources than Disney.”

Babble Media was named one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 by Time Magazine, as well as one of the Top 100 Websites for Women by Forbes.  The company will remain headquartered in New York and Griscolm and Volkman will join the Disney Interactive Media Group.

“Parents’ relationships with Disney are founded in stories, and Disney's best stories are about families. We believe that Babble and Disney can harness the power of storytelling to inform, entertain and empower parents everywhere,” said Brooke Chaffin, SVP of Moms and Family at the Disney Interactive Media Group, in a statement. “With more than 3.9 million mom blogs in the US alone, Disney Interactive recognizes and values the important and powerful role moms have taken on in new media.”

Babble Media has raised more than $6 million to date from Village Ventures, Greycroft Partners, and iNovia Capital.