Time Inc. - the brand behind magazines such as Time, Sports Illustrated, People and Entertainment Weekly - announced an aggressive live video plan at its NewFront presentation Thursday.
Time is working on 11 new series, effectively doubling its video plans, as part of a multimedia push from the well-known print company.
Among these series are 40/40 Live, Jay Z’s celebrity talk show with sports and hip hop stars, A Year in Space with astronaut Scott Kelly, unscripted series Andi’s Apple with former Bachelorette Andi Dorfman and an InStyle-branded competition show called The Next Star Stylist.
Time’s expanded video production will be assisted by a new studio set to open in Manhattan. The studio is meant to ramp up live video, which Time said is one of its top priorities this year. Currently, Time has five live shows derived from its magazine brands: SI Now, People Now, Fortune Live, Essence Live and SI Pro Football Now.
Popography, a new series from People and Entertainment Weekly, will take fans into the lives of famous artists and performers, hosted by Editorial Director Jess Cagle. Also from Entertainment Weekly, The Bullseye will be adapted from the pithy last page of the magazine, discussing the good, the bad and the hilarious from pop culture each week.
Its recently launched streaming platform, The Daily Cut, is also expanding, adding distribution partners Amazon, Gannett, CBS Local, Vessel, Nexstar and Cumulus.
Popsugar’s NewFront presentation Thursday as well, activating upbeat lifestyle content.
Under the vertical Find Your Happy, Popsugar has signed sponsors Hilton and Chobani to series about DIY and relationships.
It also has six new series in development, including Knock Knock from fashion designer Rachel Antonoff, fashion and beauty show Hannahgram, a Facebook video series called Popsugar Rush, scripted comedy Seriously Distracted and Mae Whitman’s All My Friends Are Getting Married.
Read more at Variety.
Brief Take: Time Inc. is doing a good job of melding its print brands into online video series, but says it’s also open to expanding these series beyond its print titles. “We certainly want to use our brands to create content, but we also want to create content that is relevant to our brands,” said J.R. McCabe, SVP of video at Time Inc.
[Image courtesy of Time]
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