• by Tameka Kee , February 11, 2008

TheStreet.com today unveils MainStreet.com, a Web site that connects celebrity news and current events to a range of personal finance and money-oriented topics. Users at the new site will find original editorial and video content, and community features like tools for ranking and commenting on articles, as well as a blog.

Helmed by managing editor Caroline Waxler, the content will fall into one of four categories: Beginnings--or financial advice linked to events like starting a new job, buying a house or having a baby; Endings--for handling things like deaths or divorces; Windfalls--for advice about handling a sudden influx of money; and Challenges--with info on protecting oneself against unexpected events like natural disasters. MainStreet's editorial team will cover news like a professional athlete's signing of a new contract, and link it to advice on how and why readers should roll over their 401(K) if they got a new job.

Waxler brings a blend of finance and entertainment experience to MainStreet, having served as an investigative journalist for Forbes, as well as a writer for VH1's pop-culture roundup, "Best Week Ever."

"Everyone needs to spend and save, but not everyone wants to read about it or pursue the info. So we're luring them in with the celebrity stuff," Waxler said. "It's like a sugar coating to the financial medicine that they need." Short video promos for MainStreet started running on sites like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace over the weekend, Waxler added.

According to Steve Elkes, The Street.com's chief revenue officer and executive vice president, mergers and acquisitions, while MainStreet's target audience (ages 25-49) skews a bit younger than TheStreet's, it will be broad enough to attract advertisers that run the gamut from financial services and automobiles, to CPGs and personal care.

"Every advertiser has a premium brand, a mid-level brand and a bargain brand, and TheStreet tends to feature more luxury brands and less mid-level," Elkes said. "MainStreet will probably be more of a mix--still with some luxury items, but also other kinds of brands, and markets that TheStreet hasn't penetrated quite as heavily such as beauty."

Both MainStreet.com and TheStreet.com feature display and contextual text ads, and Elkes said that they would expand to video, site skinning and other custom options in the future. TheStreet, Inc. is a financial media company based in New York.