• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 17, 2013

Continuing to broaden its content offerings, Fandango over the weekend launched a new series called “Summer of Action” previewing new blockbuster releases during the peak movie-going season. Hosting the five-episode program that runs until September is the “beauty and brawn” pairing of TV host Tiffany Smith and ex-mixed martial arts star and actor Chuck Liddell.

Each episode will feature movie trailers, photo galleries, behind-the-scenes footage and fan interviews, along with the ability to buy tickets. Launch sponsor for the Summer of Action site is Gillette, with a home page takeover promoting its Fusion ProGlide Slivertouch razor as part of its “Man of Steel” campaign launched last month in connection with the reboot of the Superman film franchise.

The new series is Fandango’s third original video offering following “The Frontrunners,” an awards season show launched last year and hosted by Dave Karger, and its ongoing movie preview show, “Weekend Ticket.”

Known best for its ticketing service, Fandango, want to keep users sticking around longer through its expanded programming lineup, explained Adam Rockmore, the company’s vice president of marketing. In that vein, it plans to debut another short-term series like later this summer focused on new horror film releases.

Figures released Friday by Nielsen show Yahoo Movies is the top site for watching movie trailers, at 11.6 million videos in April, with Fandango fourth, at 2.8 million. When it came to movie-related apps, traffic in April was up 26.1% to 5.4 million unique visitors from a year ago. Underscoring that mobile growth, Fandango said mobile video views are up 75% on a monthly basis.