Draft:Matador Network

Matador Network is a North American digital media company based in San Francisco focused on travel, outdoor adventure, food, nightlife, language learning and culture. The company has more than 80 million monthly visitors and 16 million social media followers and is the largest independent online travel publisher.

The company was officially founded on April 28, 2006 by CEO Ross Borden and Ben Polansky.

In 2023, Matador Network launched GuideGeek, a travel assistant using generative artificial intelligence technology from OpenAI.

History
During the COVID-19 pandemic Matador Network pivoted to content focused on outdoor adventure, road trips and domestic travel. In 2021, Borden relaunched Matador Creators — a revamped platform, or “LinkedIn for travel creators,” where creators can set up their profiles and apply for press trips or campaigns from brands. Matador Creators currently has more than 50,000 members including writers, bloggers, photographers, filmmakers and producers.

After bootstrapping the company on $11,000, Borden scaled Matador Network into a seven-figure business and one of the largest travel brands on the web. Matador has thousands of travel writers, adventurers and influencers within its network, and has evolved from a branded content business into a full-fledged production studio making custom content for brands, hooking them up with its influencer network and distributing it to its millions of readers and social media followers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic Matador Network pivoted to content focused on outdoor adventure, road trips and domestic travel. In 2021, Borden relaunched Matador Creators — a revamped platform, or “LinkedIn for travel creators,” where creators can set up their profiles and apply for press trips or campaigns from brands. Matador Creators currently has more than 50,000 members including writers, bloggers, photographers, filmmakers and producers.

GuideGeek
In late 2022, Matador Network gained early access to the latest ChatGPT technology and began using it to build a tool for travel planning. In spring 2023, the company launched GuideGeek, a free A.I.-powered travel assistant and increased accuracy over the following year from 85% to 98%. Users message the free service on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Travelers can specify their budget and needs to generate custom itineraries. Destinations such as Estes Park, Colorado and Illinois have partnered with Matador Network for custom versions of the AI technology.

Matador Network has a team of human curators monitoring conversations to steer them back on track if the AI gets off course. Using this technique, known as reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), the accuracy of GuideGeek has increased to 98%. In recognition of GuideGeek, Fast Company named Matador Network to its 2024 list of Most Innovative Companies.

Films and Books
Matador Network operates an in-house production team of 40 known as Matador Studios, which produces video content for brands as well as Matador Originals. In 2024, Matador Network released “Mushrooms Are So Hot Right Now” and “Water & Solitude, The Story of a Tongan Whale Guide.” Matador Network has distribution partnerships with organizations such as ESPN on Roku and connected TV. It also created a video for Jeep starring snowboarder Shaun White.

In 2019, Matador Network partnered with Southwest Airlines to create a four-episode series called “My City, My Heart: An Insiders' Guide by Southwest Employees.” The series showcased employees from four different work groups, each playing an important role, and launched across Matador's digital channels and onboard Wi-Fi-equipped flights on Southwest.

Matador Network has also published books, including “No Foreign Lands: 100 of the Most Inspirational Travel Quotes of All Time,” which was named a 2012 New York Times gift guide suggestion.

Matador was approached by publishing house Macmillan to write the book “101 Places to Get F*cked Up Before You Die.” Matador senior editor David S. Miller told Business Insider, “Our website is not about exploiting destinations. Matador and our brand has always been about traveling in a respectful way and trying to connect with local people.”