Meredith Corp., in cooperation with Comcast Corp., will launch Parents TV in December.
Parents TV, featuring content based around Meredith’s Parents, Family Circle and American Baby magazines, will be shown on Comcast’s On Demand service. Original programming will be produced in-house by Meredith Video Solutions.
“Quite frankly, we don’t think parenting content has been done very well in video in the past,” said JR McCabe, VP of business development at Meredith Video Solutions.
“What we’re doing is either creating content based on our [magazine] editorial or creating content relevant to editorial,” he continued. “We’re not trying to do something outside the realm of the content we create on the editorial side û we just want to bring it to life. The programming won’t be about saying æFamily Circle’ or æParents,’ but it will be integrated into the content so people know the credibility is there.”
The launch of Parents TV is part of a larger Meredith strategy to extend branded content into new platforms. The company launched Better.tv in March. Comcast was chosen as a distribution partner for Parents TV because, McCabe says, it is the 2-to-1 leader in Video on Demand distribution.
Parents TV has already gathered a slew of advertisers, including Discover Card and Kimberly-Clark, makers of Huggies diapers. All programming will be ad-supported.
Meredith is offering custom-created content and product integration for Parents TV advertisers. However, McCabe insists that no infomercials will be made. Only if a product can be organically integrated, he says, without a negative reaction from consumers, will content be produced around it.
The channel will make efforts to appeal to parents at every stage of child-rearing, from pregnancy through college entrance.
Parents TV will be available through Video On Demand, broadband and mobile applications. Videos will also be available on the stand-alone site, www.parents.tv and on www.parents.com. Parents.com is the Web portal for all of Meredith’s parent-focused offerings.
Parents TV will be promoted on Meredith-owned television stations, in magazines and online. Meredith Corporation publishes 25 subscription magazines and 180 special interest publications. The company also owns 13 television stations as well as a marketing arm with a consumer database of close to 85 million names.
Comcast Corp. boasts more than 24 million cable customers and more than 12 million Internet subscribers. Comcast holdings include E Entertainment Television, PBS Kids, TV One and Style Network.
