Prevention Magazine to Revamp Its Direction

By TANZINA VEGA

Like many print publications, Prevention, a staple of supermarket checkout lines, has suffered from a drop in ad pages in the last year.

“Unfortunately the advertising industry has always worshiped at a younger altar,” said Maria Rodale, the chairwoman and chief executive of Rodale, the magazine's publisher.

Readers of Prevention will not change radically - the magazine is geared toward women in their 40s, 50s and 60s - but the magazine will. Starting in January, Prevention will have a new editorial direction, a new look and new contributors to start the year.

Anne Alexander, who is to be announced as the magazine's senior vice president and editorial director on Monday, said the magazine's treatment of its readers would change. Prevention, she said, “used to think of the reader as Dr. Mom, improving the health of her neighbors, her kids and her husband.” Ms. Alexander said the magazine's new focus would e ncourage women to “prioritize yourself.”

Ms. Alexander was vice president and editorial director of Prevention from 1997 to 2000. Before her return to the magazine, she was senior vice president and editorial director at National Geographic Books.

The magazine will include more focus on preventive health, fitness, natural remedies, emotional healing and alternative health methods. New columnists will include Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Tasneem Bhatia. The updated layout will include brighter photos and less clutter on the page, Ms. Alexander said.

Rodale will begin introducing the updated magazine to advertisers this week and hopes to attract more upscale health and beauty brands like Aveda and Origins. (Mr. Weil has a line of cosmetics with Origins). Other new advertising categories include athletic apparel, finance and automotive.

According to the Publishers Information Bureau, Prevention had a 25.8 percent loss in advertising pages from 2011 to 201 2. It did, however, have a 7 percent increase in single copy sales in the first half of 2012, according to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. A slight increase in the cover price, to $3.99 from $3.49, will also take effect in January.

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.

\'American Idol\' Confirms Addition of Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban

By BILL CARTER

The Fox network on Sunday morning made official the long-reported final additions to the judging lineup for “American Idol,” television's dominant show of the past decade, and the new names were, as expected, the rap star Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, one of the most popular singers in country music.

The two will join a new, expanded judging panel, made up of one holdover, Randy Jackson, who has been with the show from its start, and what amounts to an all-star lineup of new performers, with Mariah Carey already having signed on.

Fox was under the gun to get deals finalized with Ms. Minaj and Mr. Urban because the first tapings of auditions for a new season of “Idol” begin Sunday night in New York; the shows will begin airing in January. The network had held off from confirming the widespread rumors of their selection because they had not signed their contracts until this weekend.

The new judges replace Jenn ifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, who both left “Idol” last spring after two seasons.

The music firepower now on the “Idol” panel reflects both the show's continuing importance to the music business and the need to add fresh appeal to a show whose ratings fell about 30 percent last year.

In addition, “Idol” now exists in the television marketplace with two copycat singing-competition shows, “The Voice” on NBC and “X Factor” on Fox. Both of those shows, which are also stocked with superstar performers as judges, have been successful but have seen ratings declines so far this season.

That only adds to the pressure on the show's producers - and its new trio of high-profile judges - to steady the flagship of Fox's prime-time lineup.

Bill Carter writes about the television industry. Follow @wjcarter on Twitter.