Time Inc. Archives

Time Inc.’s Slate Of Personality-Driven Series, Powerful Documentary Programs And Reality Shows Presented At The NewFronts

Apr 30, 2015

New York, April 30, 2015 – A year aboard the International Space Station … a table chat with close friends … a heart-tugging new start for veterans … high-wattage conversations with superstar athletes and celebrities … and a search for the next great celebrity stylist are just a few of the new digital video programs Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) presented today during its NewFronts showcase. The company also announced several additions to its video distribution network and unveiled its state-of-the-art broadcast studios being constructed in Time Inc.’s new downtown headquarters.

 

“Our NewFront presentation is another opportunity for us to tell the story of our video enterprise, which has gained tremendous momentum in just a very short time,” said J.R. McCabe, Time Inc. SVP, Video. “Today we showcased a broad and dynamic slate of programming that shows our diversity, and we know our growing audience will be excited for their upcoming premieres.”

 

A key theme of the presentation was the momentum of the company wide digital video initiative. Currently 22 US brands are producing original video content in a variety of forms, driving a 78% growth in y-o-y video UVs (March ’15 comScore), with engagement up significantly (+ 50% y-o-y), as is total streams per viewer (+233% y-o-y). Also notably, Time Inc. has generated over 1 billion views of its video since its 2014 NewFronts presentation (5.1.14).

 

In addition to Time Inc.’s returning series and original programming, today’s NewFront introduced 11 exciting new programs and development projects. Among them were: TIME’S A Year In Space, which chronicles astronaut Scott Kelly’s year in the International Space Station; 40/40 Live, a collaboration with JAY Z’s Life + Times, is hosted by WNBA point guard Skylar Diggins and filmed at JAY Z’s The 40/40 Club offering fresh, unfiltered conversation with personalities in sports, fame, music and more; The Bullseye stars Entertainment Weekly Senior Writer Tim Stack who will be joined by a celebrity guest to offer rapid-fire thoughts on the week’s buzziest news; Popography, hosted by People and EW Editorial Director Jess Cagle interviewing the A-listers about the pivotal moments that shaped their careers; Sports Illustrated Films, a new dedicated video initiative to tell sports stories across all screens and mediums and Andi’s Apple, featuring former Bachelorette Andi Dorfman as she kicks off her single life in NYC while cultivating her passions for fashion, fitness and food as she learns about life—and love—on her own terms. (See below for the complete list and full descriptions of all 11 new programs.) 

 

Complementing its vast original video production efforts, in 2014 Time Inc. created a video distribution network which added scale and diversity to advertising options including run-of-network, full-sponsorship opportunities, segmenting audiences and contextual targeting on Time Inc. sites. Today Time Inc. announced that several of the industry’s most-respected digital enterprises and media organizations have joined the network doubling the number of distribution partners across both platforms and devices. These new partners are: Amazon where Time Inc. video will be available on the Amazon Video Shorts pages within Amazon.com; CBS Local Digital Media and its network of over 120+ websites including its owned-and-operated stations’ sites and national properties; Cumulus and its network of 450 US station sites; Gannett, which owns and operates 120 news and information properties including USA TODAY; Nexstar Broadcasting’s digital network includes [56] community webportals that provide digital and mobile access to the local news, entertainment and information aired on the 100+ local broadcast television stations owned or operated by the company; and the acclaimed Vessel Video Service, where Time Inc. was a featured launch partner.

 

Said McCabe: “Our goal is to constantly expand the reach and scale of our video network, first through Time Inc. digital channels and then with organic and mutually beneficial partnerships. We are thrilled with the caliber of these newest additions to our network which is a testament to the quality of programming being created by our team.” 

 

Time Inc. also showed a preview of its new studios that will be christened in the company’s new headquarters at 225 Liberty. The studio features more than 3,000 square feet of soundstage and triples our production capabilities. The space was uniquely designed to give the production team maximum flexibility to create programming of an array of genres and subjects as well as double the amount of simultaneous live programming being generated by Time Inc. brands.

 

The following is the full slate of programming presented today:

 

40/40 Live: JAY Z’s The 40/40 Club in Manhattan is the setting for this exciting new talk show. Produced in collaboration with JAY Z’s Life+Times and hosted by WNBA point guard Skylar Diggins, 40/40 Live blends the worlds of hip hop and sports celebrity to provide a fresh and unfiltered conversation around sports, fame, music and more. With the energy of this luxury sports bar as a backdrop and the rising talent of Skylar and her celebrity guests, 40/40 Live promises to be edgy, unpredictable and compelling. 

 

A Year in Space: Today, Astronaut Scott Kelly is already aboard the International Space Station—part of an ambitious, one-year experiment to determine if Mars travel can ever be achieved. With unprecedented access, TIME film-makers will chronicle Kelly’s entire mission in a multipart series, online and in print. A Year in Space will also follow Scott’s family back home, including his twin brother Mark—a retired NASA astronaut—who is serving as the other half of a unique experiment, comparing how identical bodies and identical genes respond to a year in decidedly non-identical environments. In A Year in Space, technology, biology and the ambitions of humanity will converge in ways they never have before.

 

Andi’s Apple: Former Bachelorette Andi Dorfman is kicking off her single life with a fresh start in a new city. This series will capture Dorfman as she navigates the dating world of New York City while cultivating her passions for fashion, fitness and food. With the help of her pals, including a former Bachelor costar, the headstrong 28-year-old is learning about life—and love—on her own terms.

 

At the Table: With the casual nature of a kitchen table chat with close friends, At the Table offers generous servings of pop culture banter mixed with lifestyle and cooking tips. At the Table is a fun and informative new series hosted by three young, engaging personalities who on the one hand offer fascinating, unpredictable and highly social chat and celebrity gossip. And on the other, they provide simple and useful advice on everything from cooking, entertaining and crafts to organizing, and DIY. Fast, fun, and informative, everyone has a place at this table.

 

Black Girl Magic: In this inspiring new docu-series from Essence, the lives of six teenage girls from diverse backgrounds and circumstances will be brought to life vividly and poignantly. Directed by emerging African-American female filmmakers, each short film will be an intimate profile of a single girl, revealing her unique drive and her fondest dreams, capturing her courage and perseverance, and enchanting viewers lucky enough to witness that special phenomenon known on social media as “black girl magic.”

 

Building Hope: In this uplifting and heart-warming new series, Time Inc. teams up with Operation Finally Home, a Tennessee-based non-profit dedicated to building mortgage-free homes for disabled veterans, allowing them to restart their lives. Building Hope will follow five military veterans—injured while stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan—as they return to their hometowns and are met by grateful communities, whose gestures of giving back take the shape of a new custom-built home for the veteran, and changed lives for everyone involved.

 

Popography: People and Entertainment Weekly join forces to produce a new digital series focused on the lives and careers of the world’s most renowned artists and entertainers. Hosted by People and EW Editorial Director Jess Cagle, each installment of Popography will take an intimate look at the pivotal moments that shaped one fascinating star: the early work, the big break, the career highlights and current passions. Equally irreverent and revealing, we’ll experience these artists in a whole new light, with exclusive access to vintage photos, rare anecdotes, and unprecedented insight into what fuels star power.

 

SI Films: Built upon its rich tradition of storytelling, Sports Illustrated launches the next evolution of the brand—Sports Illustrated Films. From short features to full length documentaries, this new venture harnesses the journalistic excellence of Sports Illustrated with its Emmy Award-winning production team and acclaimed industry directors. Sports Illustrated has been at the center of sports’ greatest stories for more than 60 years. That journey continues today with the launch of Sports Illustrated Films.

 

Social Currency: The New Famous: An inside look into the world of today’s newest celebrities: the social influencers. These are the social media-savvy entrepreneurs who’ve mastered the art of self-promotion and amassed a supersized audience through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms. Social Currency will profile a select group of social media’s hottest, newest personalities, and trace the strategy, hard work, and sheer luck on their journey to becoming “the new famous.”

 

The Bullseye: Taken from the wildly popular last page of Entertainment Weekly, The Bullseye is a fast-paced and irreverent new web series hosted by EW senior writer Tim Stack. Each weekly installment will feature Tim, his side-kicks, and a celebrity guest engaged in super-smart and rapid-fire conversation on the week’s buzziest hits, the lamest missteps, and the project or person that’s in the center of the pop culture bullseye. With Tim Stack’s unique mix of wit, camp and high energy at the center, this show hits right on target.

 

The Next Star Stylist: In this new reality competition show from the style experts at InStyle, viewers will get an inside look at the glamour, drama and dedication going on behind the scenes of the red carpet. Up-and-coming stylists will compete against each other for a high-stakes, career-making opportunity to dress a celebrity for a red-carpet event. Online voters will give them a chance, while a team of experts and celebrity stylists will coach and judge them. It all culminates in a red carpet debut that could launch the career of the Next Star Stylist.

 

 

 About Time Inc.  

Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is one of the world’s leading media companies, with a monthly global print audience of over 120 million and worldwide digital properties that attract more than 120 million visitors each month, including over 50 websites. Our influential brands include People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, Cooking Light, Fortune and Food & Wine, as well as more than 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom such as Decanter and Horse & Hound. Time Inc. is home to celebrated events and franchises including the Fortune 500, Time 100, People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the Essence Festival and the biennial Fortune Global Forum. Hundreds of thousands of people attended our live media events in 2014. We also provide content marketing, targeted local print and digital advertising programs, branded book publishing and marketing and support services, including subscription sales services for magazines and other products, retail distribution and marketing services and customer service and fulfillment services, for ourselves and third-party clients, including other magazine publishers. 

 

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 CONTACT:

Scott Novak

212.522.2687 or 917.699.4142

Scott.Novak@timeinc.com