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AOP: Natmags to launch Handbag TV service – and revamp other sites

Posted: 03/10/07 By: Oliver Luft
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The chief executive of NatMags told an industry conference that it's set to launch a TV service across its Handbag suite of sites and relaunch the websites of other woman's titles Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.

Addressing the Association of Online Publishers conference, in London today, Duncan Edwards said that Hearst (Natmags US parent company) owned nearly a quarter of Brightcove, the online video network and syndication provider, and it would take advantage of that to launch the video content across its fashion and lifestyle sites.

"We will launch Hangbag TV in October using this service and then aim to extend it across the network thereafter," he told delegates.

The move, he said, was part of a bid to increase the audio/visual content across all of the company's sites.

He said the page impressions metric would not remain the key indicator of site success for much longer, adding that it would be replaced by time spent online and interaction.

With this in mind, video services, he added, would be monetised with pre- and post-roll advertising.

The new online version of Bazaar, he added, would launch later in the year in the Handbag framework, giving it an immediate audience, while Cosmopolitan will be overhauled in the spring.

Natmags is also planning to develop mobile versions of its magazine and online publications, yet Edwards conceded that this would not be happening in the short term as the company was too heavily involved with the development of its online businesses - an area it moved into relatively late in the day.

"Hearst in the States is probably a year ahead of us in terms of mobile versions of mag sites - it's coming but we've got a lot on our plate at the moment. We're dealing with the internet side before we come on to mobile but I've no doubt that we'll be there in the next year at some stage."

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