• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 17, 2011

Fran Hauser has been promoted to president of digital for Time Inc.'s Style & Entertainment and Lifestyle groups. Per her promotion, Hauser will also be managing Time Inc. Digital Labs, a new program at the company of which little is known.

" I am working with [Time EVP and Chief Digital Offer] Randall Rothenberg and other digital leaders in the company to launch a Center for Digital Innovation," Hauser told Online Media Daily regarding Digital Labs. "The goal is to amplify innovation around both consumer and advertising products. It is still very much in its early stages ... We are thinking through structure, culture and process. It's a critical initiative for the company."

More broadly, Hauser will oversee all of Time Inc.'s women's brands, including lifestyle titles such as Real Simple, Southern Living and Myrecipes.com. She previously managed digital sides of People, InStyle and Entertainment Weekly.

"The overall objectives of all of these products are consistent," Hauser explains. "To be loved by consumers and to produce great results for our advertising clients."

"The biggest difference I see is in the purpose of news-driven sites like People.com and EW.com and service-oriented sites like Realsimple.com and Myrecipes.com," she added. "There is more of an immediacy to the content on People and EW, as opposed to the evergreen content that is featured on the Lifestyle sites."

Hauser will work under Time Inc. EVPs Paul Caine and Evelyn Webster; she is expected to grow her groups' online reach.

To date, Hauser has served as president of digital for the Style & Entertainment group for over two years, during which time she oversaw the acquisition of Stylefeeder and led various e-commerce and social media initiatives.

"StyleFind just recently launched, and we are pleased with the initial results," Hauser said. "It hit 1 million monthly uniques in its first month and has hundreds of thousands of registered members. We are excited to continue developing the features and functionality of the product and integrate the product more tightly into other Time Inc. titles."

Hauser was recently credited with helping People.com top 1 billion monthly page-views in January. According to Hauser, Time Inc. presently reaches over 28 million women digitally.