Condé Nast Introduces Web Series for Its Magazines

Condé Nast Introduces Web Series for Magazines

Last year, the latest innovation every magazine wanted to release was an iPad edition. This year, it’s online video content.

Condé Nast’s Entertainment Group introduced 30 programs at its first presentation made during the Digital Content NewFronts. Dawn Ostroff, president of Condé Nast Entertainment, presented shows that have already started to appear on Glamour’s Web site, like “Fashion Week Ride-Along” with its editor in chief Cindi Leive and “Elevator Makeover,” in which a woman receives a fashion makeover during an elevator ride. She also offered a glimpse of the 10 programs scheduled to begin soon on Vogue’s site, like “Vogue Weddings” and “Vintage Bowles,” in which the Vogue editor Hamish Bowles shops the world for clothes.

Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue, Epicurious and Style.com are also expected to unveil programs by the year’s end, and Condé Nast said it hoped to distribute content through partnerships with Yahoo, AOL and Twitter.

“Each brand will have its own mix,” said Fred Santarpia, executive vice president and chief digital officer of Condé Nast Entertainment.

The company officially introduced its entertainment group in October 2011 to expand into film and television, but before Wednesday, the group had received little attention except for criticism from some writers who said the venture was curbing their film and television options.

The presentation on Wednesday also let the entertainment group finally show the fruits of its video labors, which appear to be in all stages of development. Glamour and GQ are the furthest along because they have already unveiled programs. Vogue will start to introduce shows on May 8, and Wired magazine will follow a week later with four programs, including an animated series.

Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., president of Condé Nast, stressed that the company’s new focus on video would never surpass its interest in print.

“Our company is founded in print,” he said. “This is an extension of what we are doing. We see this as a new business that is not in lieu of but in addition to.”