He started with a digital tablet edition (via Google Play and Apple Newstand apps) and leapt at the chance to partner with The Sundance Channel on weekly series “The Writer’s Room.” He saw this as a co-branding and cross-pollinating opportunity for EW and its website. EW’s TV editorial team booked the shows and negotiated the access, capitalizing on the current interest in television, but it lasted just one season.
After Matt Bean left as editor of EW, succeeded by Henry Goldblatt, Time Inc. named Bean to a new job, senior VP, editorial innovation. “In this position, he will develop new editorial products and content verticals that leverage emerging audiences and technology,” announced Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp. Entertainment vet Richard Battista, the new evp of Time Inc. and president of People and Entertainment Weekly, is also chasing brands into video production, television and licensing.
The magazine has also launched video series “Scene Unseen,” talking to Hollywood creators like Kevin Smith and Key & Peele about “lost” ideas that never got made, for whatever reason. EW then brings them to life through animation. At EW.com’s Kickass Women (always one of my fave EW Comic-Con panels), you can find a supercut of women (fictional and real) in film, TV and music who kick ass, from Katniss Everdeen to Wonder Woman.
At last week’s digital NewFronts EW premiered “The Bullseye,” a new digital series inspired by the last page of EW, hosted by senior writer Tim Stack who will dish on the week’s hits and missteps with celebrity guests, and “Popography,” partnered with People, focused on pivotal moments that shaped the lives and careers of the world’s best-known artists and entertainers, hosted by Cagle. Other video series include “Lightbulb” and “Pop Culture Personality Test.”
And on the web, ad/editorial boundaries can be more fluid. EW is pursuing more native advertising and sponsored content on EW.com, mobile and tablets.
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