The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has unveiled a redesigned magazine and Web site in an effort to serve a wider global market.
As part of the relaunch, the daily revealed a new logo, along with editorial and content tweaks. The Web site, which will continue to show regular changes for the next few months, is designed to be closer in look and feel to the print product. Microsites, blogs and four online video channels were also added to the site.
In the print edition, readers will see shorter stories Monday to Thursday, and fewer jumps. The Friday edition will feature more analytical pieces. The magazine will also be supplemented with exclusive industry data from THR parent company Nielsen Media and will feature region-specific content.
“The industry itself is in continual change, and each year that goes by it seems to move faster with the digital environment, the globalization, the way films are financed, the importance of the tech industry and of the new media companies,” said Eric Mika, publisher of THR. “It was a very natural progression that we had to shake the apple tree and change the publication. We recognize the community of entertainment has gotten much larger, and we have to speak to that community today.”
Mika said the magazine will stay faithful to its core audience of people in the entertainment business, but noted that the entertainment world’s expansion has pushed the magazine to cover equity, technology and mobile on top of traditional entertainment news. The magazine reports 36,000 paid subscribers.
A full-on overhaul has been brewing at The Hollywood Reporter for a year. The Hollywood Reporter Digital Edition launched in June, followed by the hiring of Elizabeth Guider as editor in July. In November, day and date delivery to East Coast cities launched, and the magazine expanded its European distribution.
A teaser campaign announced the redesign in the week before its launch. The Hollywood Reporter also sent letters to clients announcing the changes and held a VIP event on the night of the relaunch.
Mika is confident that the made-over THR will maintain its position in the market.
“If we look at how entertainment today is being consumed and delivered there’s competition everywhere: from the entertainment news from bloggers who have no control to the New York Times and the Economist and the Wall Street Journal,” he said. “But we’re inside, so our reporting has to be first and deeper, and then it becomes the source for all other publications or news outlets.”
