In 1993, five years after the founding of
The Onion,
Stephen Thompson, a student at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, launched an entertainment section of the newspaper. Its name refers to
audio visual clubs offered by American
high schools during the late 20th century for students to use and learn about equipment like speakers and projectors. In 1996, both
The Onion and
The A.V. Club debuted on the Internet.
The A.V. Club was originally a subsection of the main
theonion.com domain. The supplement was moved to its own domain name,
theavclub.com, before the 2005 acquisition of the shorter
avclub.com domain name. The latter change coincided with a redesign that incorporated reader comments and blog content. In 2006, the website shifted its content model to add content on a daily, rather than weekly, basis. Some contributors have become established as freelance writers and editors. According to Sean Mills, then-president of
The Onion, the
A.V. Club website first reached more than 1 million unique visitors in October 2007. In late 2009, the website was reported to have received more than 1.4 million unique visitors and 75,000 comments per month. At its peak, the print version of
The A.V. Club was available in 17 different cities. Localized sections of the website were also maintained with reviews and news relevant to specific cities. The print version and localized websites were gradually discontinued, and in December 2013, print publication ceased production in the last three markets. On 9 December 2010, the website
ComicsComicsMag revealed that a
capsule review for the book
Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth had been fabricated. The book had not yet been published nor even completed by the authors. After the review was removed, editor Keith Phipps posted an apology on the website, stating that the reporter being assigned to review the book could not locate a copy of it ("for obvious reasons"), so they fabricated it. Leonard Pierce, the author of the review, was terminated from his freelance role with the website.
2012–2014 staff departures On 13 December 2012, long-time writer and editor Keith Phipps, who oversaw the website after Stephen Thompson left, stepped down from his role as editor of
The A.V. Club. He said, "
Onion, Inc. and I have come to a mutual parting of the ways." On 2 April 2013, long-time film review editor and critic Scott Tobias stepped down as film editor of
The A.V. Club. He said via
Twitter, "After 15 great years @theavclub, I step down as Film Editor next Friday." On 26 April 2013, long-time writers
Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski announced they would also be leaving the website to begin work on a new project with Scott Tobias and Keith Phipps. Koski also said that she would continue to write freelance articles. Writer Noel Murray announced he would be joining their new project, while continuing to contribute to
The A.V. Club in a reduced capacity. In April and June 2014, senior staff writers Kyle Ryan, Sonia Saraiya, and
Emily St. James left the website for positions at
Entertainment Weekly,
Salon, and
Vox Media, respectively. In 2015, Ryan returned to Onion, Inc. for a position in development. Following his departure from
The Dissolve earlier that month, Nathan Rabin returned to write freelance for the
A.V. Club website in May 2015. He renewed his regular column "My World of Flops".
The Dissolve folded in July 2015.
Univision era In January 2016,
Univision Communications acquired a 40% controlling stake in Onion Inc., the parent company of
The A.V. Club. Later that year, Univision also purchased
Gawker Media and reorganized several of Gawker's sites into the new
Gizmodo Media Group, a division of
Fusion Media Group. On 16 February 2017,
The A.V. Club editor-at-large, John Teti, posted an article on the website announcing the upcoming release of a television series, titled
The A.V. Club, based on the website. The series, hosted by Teti, began airing on
Fusion on 16 March 2017 and ran for one season. The series featured news, criticism, and discussions about various popular-culture topics and featured staff members from the website. The site was subsequently migrated from Bulbs, an internal
content management system developed by Onion Inc., to the Gawker-developed
Kinja platform. Audience reviews hosted on the previous site were deleted and the Kinja comment system was heavily derided by the site's commenting community, leading to a sharp decline in activity.
Unionization In March 2018, employees announced they had unionized with the
Writers Guild of America, East. The union comprises "all of the creative staffs at Onion Inc.:
The A.V. Club,
The Onion,
ClickHole,
The Takeout, Onion Labs, and Onion Inc.'s video and art departments." (
ClickHole was acquired by
Cards Against Humanity in February 2020.) The union was recognized on 20 April 2018 and reached a contract agreement with management on 20 December 2018. The contract includes "annual pay increases, minimum pay grades, strong diversity and anti-harassment language, just cause, union security, editorial independence, intellectual property rights, and an end to permalancers."
G/O Media era In July 2018, Univision announced it was looking for a buyer for the entire Gizmodo Group. In April 2019, Gizmodo and
The Onion were sold to
private-equity firm Great Hill Partners, which combined them into a new company named
G/O Media. In July 2019, executive editor Laura M. Browning and managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog left. In early 2020, former
People magazine and
Entertainment Weekly editor Patrick Gomez was named editor-in-chief, and it was announced that the site was opening a Los Angeles bureau. In August 2021, Yahoo! Entertainment and E! Online alum Scott Robson joined to lead the team. On 18 January 2022, the union representing staff at the website announced that all seven staff members based in Chicago had taken severance as opposed to accepting a mandatory move of work location to Los Angeles. This predominantly affected the senior staff of the site and comprised the managing editor, film editor, TV editor, associate editor, senior writer, assistant editor, and editorial coordinator. After this, the headquarters of the A.V. Club was moved to
Los Angeles.
Paste Media era In March 2024, it was reported that G/O Media had sold
The A.V. Club to
Paste Media, who had previously bought the dormant G/O Media sites
Jezebel and
Splinter News for a relaunch. This resulted in
The A.V. Club being completely separated from
The Onion, with G/O Media selling
The Onion to Global Tetrahedron the following month. Two employees were laid off as part of the transition. Paste Media CEO Josh Jackson stressed that
Paste and
The A.V. Club would not be consolidated together and assured that the comments, briefly disabled by G/O Media, would be restored. In June 2024, various changes were announced, including that the
A.V. Undercover web series would be revived after a 7-year hiatus, A.I. written articles during the G/O Media era would be removed, familiar writers would return (including Nathan Rabin and
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky), and a subscriber program will be introduced. In July 2024, Danette Chavez, a writer and editor for
The A.V. Club from 2015 to 2022, rejoined the website as editor-in-chief.
Endless Mode, a spin-off of
Paste games section that launched in July 2025, merged with
The A.V. Club games section just five months later in November, with Garrett Martin remaining editor of the section. In May 2026,
Kotaku and
Aftermath reported that the games vertical was effectively shuttered after Paste Media laid off
The A.V. Club Games staff, including Martin.
The A.V. Club stated it was refocusing its film and television coverage, however, the website "will continue to have some games coverage, but we cannot sustain a full-time staff covering it with our smaller team". ==Awards==