Television
November 13, 2007
Warner Bros. Television Group Continues Commitment To Developing Digital Content With Launch Of MomLogic.Com
(November 13, 2007 - Burbank, CA) – The Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) continues its expansion into the digital content landscape with the launch of MomLogic.com, a new online destination and cross-platform advertising network created as the ultimate destination for moms, built by moms, with Unilever as the charter sponsor. The announcement was made today by Bruce Rosenblum, President, Warner Bros. Television Group, and Hilary Estey McLoughlin, President, Telepictures Productions.
“This is a natural progression of Warner Bros. Television Group’s digital strategy. We looked at the online landscape and recognized that there was a tremendous opportunity to reach an audience that we believe is currently underserved in the marketplace. Mothers, as a group, represent enormous buying power and influence across a variety of major consumer categories,” said Bruce Rosenblum.
MomLogic.com is an online community for mothers of all ages which will provide them with honest, up-to-the-minute information about how breaking news and information affects them and their families in an ever-changing world. The driving editorial vision behind MomLogic.com is to present an authentic view of the world through the “mom lens.” Humorous, topical, candid and often colorful, MomLogic.com is a place where women dare to be “perfectly imperfect” and to say out loud what most moms only think to themselves. The site is intended to be a social, informational and entertainment destination for mothers, from birth to empty nest, who all have one thing in common – lack of time. MomLogic.com understands that in a society of information overload, moms need a resource and a community that understands what is important to them.
“This is not a parenting site but rather it is a site for women who are moms. Motherhood changes your perspective overnight on everything, and we will present the mom’s point of view on a full range of subjects ranging from news, health and beauty to shopping, as well as parenting, on this destination,” said Hilary Estey McLoughlin.
Created by Telepictures Productions, MomLogic.com is WBTVG’s next venture into targeted digital content, following in the footsteps of TMZ.com, the leading entertainment news destination on the Internet and number one new syndicated television show. With MomLogic.com’s launch, WBTVG is further developing and innovating its business model of ad-supported, video-on-demand properties that host unique programming. WBTVG is committed to creating and producing content across all of its divisions designed specifically to keep up with the evolving digital entertainment and media landscape.
The key launch advertising partner for MomLogic.com is Unilever. Expanding upon the rich and prosperous relationship between the worldwide packaged goods giant and WBTVG’s Media Sales unit, the innovative deal extends beyond a typical advertiser-platform arrangement to include contextual integration within MomLogic.com and marketing support from Unilever’s various channels.
"MomLogic further extends our desire to interact with moms in a relevant, engaging and entertaining forum,” said Jon Stimmel, Director, Media Buying, for Unilever. “Our brands have been utilizing social media amongst our core targets and MomLogic would help us connect to what's most important to mothers and their families."
One of the key elements of the destination’s reach is the unveiling of the MomLogic Network, a vertical online advertising network. The MomLogic Network will aggregate inventory from editorially compatible, safe, high-quality sites that reach moms, women and parents. Through links and content features, this network will give the MomLogic audience an easy way to discover compelling sites and content that share the MomLogic sensibility. It will provide advertisers with a unique opportunity to broadly reach their target consumers across safe, branded and quality niche sites. The network will be powered by Adify, which delivers technology and services for rapidly creating the next generation of focused, brand-driven ad networks. Examples of these publisher-partners are BarbaraK.com, the couponmom.com and kidproofusa.com.
The MomLogic.com destination and network will be primarily advertiser supported, with inventory managed by WBTVG’s Digital Media Sales group, which has quickly emerged as a leader in high-quality online brand advertising sales and which will utilize its specific expertise in reaching women through existing sites such as EllenTV.com and TyraTV.com. WBTVG will generate revenue by selling ads that run not only on MomLogic.com but also on the sites that comprise the MomLogic.com Network. In doing so, WBTVG is creating an extended network that advertisers will benefit from by creating sponsorship opportunities – targeted by demo and behavior – beyond the MomLogic.com destination. This new business extends WBTVG’s already strong strategic relationship with Advertising.com. Advertising.com will assist in monetizing the breadth of the new vertical network, bringing along its trademark set of targeting and ad performance tools. Also, Advertising.com’s Lightningcast will power the video ad serving and the syndication of MomLogic.com branded video content to partner sites.
MomLogic.com will be programmed by a team of venerable experts in producing content for women. Telepictures President Hilary Estey McLoughlin and Lisa Hackner, Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, have tapped Sabrina Weill – a veteran editor and author with experience running and launching print and online brands targeted to the female demographic, including CosmoGirl and projectangelmom.com – to be MomLogic.com’s Editor-in-Chief. Prior to joining Telepictures in this venture, Weill was Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen magazine.
Also included in the team are Cathy Chermol and Jill Mullikin-Bates, veteran producers with a longstanding history and successful track record with Telepictures, a company with 20 years of experience programming to this demographic, from “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to “The Tyra Banks Show” and “Extra.” The MomLogic.com staff will be based in Burbank, Calif., with an East Coast news bureau in New York City.
About Warner Bros. Television Group
The Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) oversees the entire portfolio of Warner Bros. Entertainment’s television businesses, including worldwide production, traditional and digital distribution and broadcasting. In the traditional television arena, WBTVG produces primetime, first-run, cable and animation series which are distributed worldwide by three category-leading distribution arms/operations. Warner Bros. is also a partner with CBS in The CW Television Network. WBTVG is an innovative leader in developing new business models for the evolving television landscape, including ad-supported video-on-demand, broadband and wireless. WBTVG has digital distribution agreements in place with the broadcast networks (representing an industry first for a major studio with unaffiliated networks). The group recently formed Studio 2.0, a digital production venture producing original short-form programming for broadband and wireless and a digital media sales unit devoted specifically to multiplatform domestic advertiser sales for both broadband and wireless.
About Telepictures Productions
In the 2007-08 season, Telepictures Productions, an industry-leading producer of syndicated programming and winner of 49 Daytime Emmy® Awards, is producing six nationally syndicated strips. This includes the freshman season of “TMZ,” the half-hour series that brings the TMZ.com brand to television, expanding upon the website’s mission as a 24-hour-per day, seven-day-per week entertainment news destination providing a fresh, unfiltered look at celebrities and their real lives; the third season of “The Tyra Banks Show,” a one-hour, daily talk show serving as a young woman’s guide to life, hosted by Tyra Banks; the fifth season of ”The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” winner of four consecutive Daytime Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Talk Show and three for Outstanding Talk Show Host; the ninth season of the hour-long court series “Judge Mathis”; the 11th season of “The People’s Court”; and the 14th season of the pop culture newsmagazine strip “Extra,” as well as the legendary weekly variety show “Showtime at the Apollo.” Additionally, Telepictures produces “CW Now,” a new half-hour series on The CW Network which blends news and entertainment to create the ultimate source for everything that’s hip, hot and happening right now in the world of young adults.
About Unilever
Unilever [NYSE: UL, UN], one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, aims to add vitality to life by meeting everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Each day, around the world, consumers make 160 million decisions to purchase Unilever products. The company has a portfolio of brands that make people feel good, look good and get more out of life.
In the United States, these brands include recognized names such as: Axe, “all,” Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Hellmann's, Knorr, Lipton, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Snuggle, Suave, Sunsilk and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever in the United States employs approximately 13,000 people in more than 60 office and manufacturing sites in 24 states and Puerto Rico – generating nearly $10 billion in sales in 2006. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com.
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