Series of Select Guests to Highlight iVillage

September 16, 2012, 10:06 pm

By AMY CHOZICK

It might take a village to turn NBC around. Or, at least, an iVillage.

NBCUniversal's female-oriented Web site, iVillage.com, has lined up a string of prominent “guest editors” who will handpick content on the site and appear in recorded vignettes. The media company plans to use that content not just on iVillage, but in sponsored video clips to appear on its cable channels and potentially on the struggling broadcast channel.

In August, the first lady, Michelle Obama, served as an iVillage guest editor. The stint included a week of her own selection of content related to a back-to-school theme.

IVillage's chief correspondent, Kelly Wallace, talked to a barefoot Mrs. Obama on a cushy couch in the East Wing and then shared the story behind that access on NBC's “Today” show. Snippets of the online interview appeared on the E! entertainment channel, also owned by NBCUniversal.

That got executives thinking about other collaborations between online and on air. On Monday, Jessica Simpson will begin a seven-day guest-editing stint. She won't be sitting down with Ms. Wallace, but in print she'll share personal anecdotes about being a new mother and her personal training regimen.

NBCUniversal plans to package vignettes of Ms. Simpson's tips and pitch them to advertisers to run during commercial breaks on Oxygen, Bravo, E!, Style and other sister cable channels. The same would happen with the future lineup of guest editors including Alicia Keys, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lauren Conrad.

“Historically, it's been rare that you see a great concept or idea that is born as a Web-based series or digital property that makes so much sense it's transported to air, ” said Linda Yaccarino, president for cable entertainment and digital advertising sales at NBCUniversal.

NBCUniversal has not yet locked in marketers to sponsor the guest-editor vignettes, but Ms. Yaccarino said she imagined the TV spots would read, for example, “Brought to you by L'Oréal.”

It's a fresh approach for iVillage, a stalwart of the dot-com era founded in 1995 and bought by NBCUniversal for $600 million in 2006. Early attempts at taking iVillage on air, including a syndicated television show, “iVillage Live” (later called “In the Loop With iVillage”), carried by local NBC stations, struggled.

But since then, iVillage has gained viewers and advertisers. According to comScore, the Web site had 27.7 million unique views in August, including a 25 percent increase in women aged 18 to 34, a sweet spot for marketers.

NBCUniversal has had success moving content on its Fandango movie tickets Web site onto TV channels. Comcast has emph asized the importance of similar synergies since it took over the media company last year. The approach speaks to the evolving way viewers watch television; the line between what is made for the Web and what is made for the TV is increasingly blurred.

“Jessica Simpson sharing her everyday struggles to get back to her pre-baby body is something that is so relevant that we can capture it on air or online,” said Jodi Kahn, president of iVillage.