Time Inc. Unveils Diverse Slate of Programming, Brand Extensions and New Products at NewFronts
Sports Illustrated To Launch New Streaming Service
Weekly “Essence Now” Live Show to be Syndicated on Twitter
New Adapt Video Ad Product Quintuples Video Format Ad Inventory
All-Social Video Brands – The Pretty, The Barrel and ReMade to
Launch This Year
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–During its annual NewFronts presentation today, Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME),
one of the world’s leading multi-platform content companies, showcased a
diversity of new programming and announced a sweeping series of
initiatives and products. They include a new Sports Illustrated
streaming video on demand service, a second People Now live daily
talk show, three new all-social video brands, an Essence partnership
with Twitter and Adapt Video, a new mobile video advertising
product. These announcements build on the company’s momentum in video,
which is garnering record growth in viewership and engagement.
The presentation at Hammerstein Ballroom was led by Rich Battista,
President and Chief Executive Officer; Jen Wong, President of Digital
and COO and Brad Elders, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue
Officer. It included a live on stage interview with Trevor Noah by People
Now host Jeremy Parsons.
“At a time when real facts, genuine relationships, integrity and trust
are at a premium, our brands are being sought out more than ever for the
quality and diversity of their video storytelling,” said Battista. “As
you saw today, we couldn’t be more excited to build on our digital
momentum by continuing to innovate and evolve how we create and deliver
compelling video content to fans and marketers across all platforms.”
“With our creative capabilities, data, and our scale, we can do things
that no other company can do,” said Wong. “We can launch and scale new
brands quickly as we saw with the recent launch of Well Done. We can
also work with marketers as creative agency of record or as a self-serve
programmatic partner. You are going to see more of all of this from Time
Inc.”
Video has quickly become a lynchpin of Time Inc.’s storytelling and is
attracting fans at a record rate, including an entirely new generation
of viewers. In 2017, the company expects to produce more than 50,000
videos including 150 new and returning franchises and series and over
1,500 live programming hours. Last month, it achieved more than one
billion video views across its network and is on pace to exceed 8.5
billion views this year, nearly doubling the previous year’s total.
NEW INITIATIVES:
New Sports Illustrated Streaming Video On Demand Service: Plans
to launch a sports-focused streaming video on demand service from Sports
Illustrated were announced today. The new service will build on the
momentum of SI’s critically-acclaimed and growing video production unit
to provide comprehensive long and short form sports programming using
the best of its unparalleled access and storytelling. It will feature a
wide range of content, including: original series, exclusive
documentaries, analysis from SI’s roster of experts, fantasy sports
shows and live and on-demand programming from marquee sports and
entertainment events and the brand’s influential extensions such as SI
Swimsuit and the annual Sportsperson of the Year celebration. The
network will also feature productions from the SI Group family of brands
like GOLF and The MMQB, and will count a robust library of more than 50
hours of sports video content at launch.
Weekly Essence Now To Be Streamed Live on Twitter: Time
Inc. has partnered with Twitter to stream Essence Now, the
popular weekly, digital live show from the editors of Essence. Launched
in 2015, Essence Now, the go-to destination for all things
entertainment, fashion, news, and love & relationships—featuring
celebrity interviews, musical performances, expert advice and much more.
The latest collaboration for Time Inc. and Twitter, Essence Now will
be the first live show on Twitter targeting Black women. Essence Now
streams on Tuesdays from 3-3:30 PM (ET) on Essence.com and will
be available on essence.twitter.com and on @essence in the coming months.
People Now Expands with New Half-Hour Afternoon
Entertainment Show: People Now, the 30-minute live,
daily online entertainment news and celebrity interview show that
airs Monday-Friday at 8:30 am ET on People.com,
is expanding to an hour in Fall 2017 to include a companion daily
half-hour afternoon program. It will feature the buzziest stories of the
day, with even more breaking news and celebrity interviews, such as past
guests Eva Longoria, Vanessa Hudgens, Derek and Julianne Hough, Venus
Williams and more. People Now has shown record-breaking digital growth
since its debut three years ago.
New All-Social Video Brands: Unveiled today were three new
all-social video brands: The Pretty, ReMade, and The Barrel, set to
launch this year. They build on the recently successful launch of Well
Done, Time Inc.’s first all-social video brand which has generated 155MM
video views since launching in March.
The Pretty: Launching this summer, The Pretty is a new standalone
social video brand for a millennial and Gen Z audience that
is passionate about beauty. Sponsored by L’Oréal Paris and Maybelline
New York, The Pretty will leverage Time Inc.’s beauty
portfolio, including HelloGiggles, People, InStyle, Real Simple,
Essence, PeopleStyle and People en Español, and its audience of
approximately 52 million unique visitors per month; over 50 million fans
and followers on social media; and nearly 20 million millennial visitors
across the Time Inc. sites. The Pretty’s videos will launch on new
Facebook and Instagram channels and will be distributed through the
HelloGiggles’ Facebook and Instagram handles. Time Inc.’s beauty
portfolio will also distribute the videos. (Source: comScore).
ReMade, a social video brand for people who love DIY and home
hacks, is scheduled to launch in Fall 2017. From the editors of Real
Simple, ReMade aims to inspire our audience to organize, create, and
remake your space through short videos that are fun and sharable.
The Barrel is a new social destination for everything around the
culture of wine, cocktails, beer and beverages. From how to pour a beer
correctly, to mixing the perfect martini, the new brand will cover it
all… as long as it’s liquid. The Barrel is set to launch by year’s end.
New Editorial Franchise: Following the launch of Coinage earlier this
year—delivering more than 600 videos for the digital sites and social
channels of Time Inc.’s 22 brands—the company announced:
The Fix— The most recognized lifestyle experts from
television and the Web, including Ayesha Curry, Nicole Curtis, Sabrina
Soto, and Carter Oosterhouse, come together in digital, all in one
place, to create and host a next-generation lifestyle programming
platform. This informative video series brings viewers inside the world
of renowned experts, providing ideas for simple, fun fixes across a wide
range of topics from kids and family, food and entertaining, style and
design, health and wellness, beauty and fashion, DIY and home
improvement, and more! And because it spans genres it will live across
an array of Time Inc. brands, with relevant content programmed on
People, Real Simple, Food & Wine, Cooking Light, and other Time Inc.
properties. Collectively, these sites represent tens of millions of
unique monthly visitors. The Fix will be produced in
partnership with Believe Entertainment Group and Flutie Entertainment,
who will also serve as executive producers on the series.
NEW PROGRAMMING: An array of new series and specials were
previewed, including:
American Anthems (from People and Southern Living)— A new,
unscripted series that celebrates the most moving stories from our
nation’s heartland and brings them to life as brand new country songs,
written and performed by some of country music’s biggest artists and
songwriters. Grammy Award-winning Big Machine artist and Sugarland lead
singer, Jennifer Nettles, serves as the series executive producer and
will also be the subject of the first episode. Each episode, a
new artist will meet with an ordinary person who has demonstrated a
great feat of courage, charity or character and visit places from the
storyteller’s past, meet their families, and witness their struggles to
overcome adversity. From these up-close-and-personal experiences, the
featured artist will craft a new, original song inspired by the
deserving storyteller’s personal narrative, to be revealed before a
live audience at the end of the episode. The series will live across
several Time Inc. brands including Southern Living and People. American
Anthems was concepted by and will be produced in partnership with
Believe Entertainment Group, which will also serve as executive
producers on the series.
Dirty Laundry (from InStyle)— Dirty Laundry
is a weekly, tongue-in-cheek celebrity interview series, hosted by
InStyle’s Editor-in-Chief Laura Brown. Currently streaming on PEN
(People and Entertainment Weekly Network), the show is set in a
laundromat and each episode documents a light-hearted, witty
conversation about the personal significance of a specific article of
clothing or accessory. In one show, filled with humor and emotion,
Indian actress/singer/producer Priyanka Chopra discusses a precious
necklace which was given to her by her late father. In another,
Australian actress Rose Byrne chats about a special t-shirt of her
longtime love Bobby Cannavale.
EW REUNITES (From Entertainment Weekly/PEN Network)— EW
REUNITES has quickly become a PEN must stream series and Time Inc.
is doubling down on the franchise by signing on for a dozen new episodes
in 2017. The popular series is built on exclusive interviews
with classic and beloved television and film casts including Who’s
the Boss, Gilmore Girls, Twin Peaks, Thelma
and Louise and more. Each reunion special engages and amazes
as former castmates come together to share memories, reminisce
and captivate us with their untold stories. Last month’s cultural
juggernaut, EW Reunites: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, delivered
milestone viewership making it the most viewed piece of PEN content of
2017. The network’s upcoming episodes this year include Battlestar
Galactica, The L Word, Pretty in Pink and Do The Right Thing.
Family Portrait (From People)— Family
Portrait is a docuseries that explores the evolution of the modern
American family and how our definition and understanding of
it remains vibrantly in flux. Produced in partnership with Rainn
Wilson’s award-winning production company Soul Pancake, Family
Portrait takes a close look at the family unit in today’s society.
The series is an inspiring look at us and our families in a
completely unscripted way that embraces how families look, feel, and
love – and what makes them special.
Firsts (from TIME)— Firsts is a
sweeping portrait of women who broke barriers and reshaped the world for
all of us. From sports to politics to business, from science to the
arts, this groundbreaking multimedia project—featuring world-class
photography, short-form documentary videos, and exclusive
interviews—will bring to vivid life the journeys of these pioneers.
Featured subjects include Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, Serena
Williams, Gabby Douglas, Ellen DeGeneres, Danica Patrick, Aretha
Franklin and many more remarkable women.
The Boss Lady Project (from Essence)— Young
Black women are driven to succeed. The only problem? Having real access
to someone in their chosen field. So, in its new series, The Boss
Lady Project, Essence will give young girls around the country a
chance to live like their idols. From a Chicago native who longs to be
an urban farmer to the Oakland teen who wants to be the next Misty
Copeland, these young girls will spend a day with successful Black women
to find out what it really takes to be a boss— while Essence’s cameras
capture the magic. By putting a spotlight on real women who have reached
their goals, The Boss Lady Project will be an inspiring and
authentic mirror for future generations.
Downloadable logos for press use are available here: http://bit.ly/2oZwhfS
Photos from Time Inc.’s NewFronts presentation can be found here:http://gtty.im/2pZcIVb
ABOUT TIME INC.
Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is a leading content company that engages over
170 million consumers every month through our portfolio of premium
brands across platforms. By combining our distinctive content with our
proprietary data and people-based targeting, we offer highly
differentiated end-to-end solutions to marketers across the multimedia
landscape. Our influential brands include People, Time, Fortune, Sports
Illustrated, InStyle, Real Simple and Southern Living, as well as
approximately 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom. Time Inc. has
been extending the power of our brands through various acquisitions and
investments, including Viant, an advertising technology firm with a
specialized people-based marketing platform; The Foundry, Time Inc.’s
creative lab and content studio; and the People Entertainment Weekly
Network (PEN). The company is also home to celebrated events, such as
the Time 100, Fortune Most Powerful Women, People’s Sexiest Man Alive,
Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, the Essence Festival and
the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Contacts
Time Inc.
Scott Novak, 212-522-2687
Scott.Novak@timeinc.com
or
Danny
Leonard, 212-522-0361
Danny_Leonard@timeinc.com
