Hello Style! Top US women's mags launch themselves on YouTube
Glossy print magazines headed off in a new direction this weekend with the launch yesterday of the Hello Style channel from the Hearst company on YouTube.
YouTube . . . here we come!
Five women's magazines (some of whom delight in sexy features) - including Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar - are collaborating on the new channel.
YouTube is spending $100 million to help media companies launch the programmes, in the belief that the higher-quality content will bring in more advertisers.
Until now the amateurishness of some content on You Tube is thought to have deterred agencies.
What's in it for the magazines ? Publishers hope video and other platforms will make up for slower print advertising growth.
Next up on May 1 is the Car and Driver TV channel, from Hearst’s motoring magazines .
How close will the shows be to the magazines themselves?
Some of the Hello Style features are taking their lead from print articles like Cosmo’s Sexy vs. Skanky and Marie Claire’s Big Girl in a Skinny World.
In Car and Driver TV, meanwhile, you'll have shows like Battle of the Beaters, where two car body shops will compete to fix up wrecks.
John Loughlin, general manager of Hearst Magazines said video was going to be very important. Their goal was "not to become flat-footed in this space.” He admitted some of the content Hearst has produced for its channels so far “pushes some envelopes."