Meredith Launches Women's Network

Meredith Corp-Womens networkIn an effort to bolster its social networking properties and lure advertisers with greater reach, Meredith Corp. said Wednesday that it will now sell its Web sites as a single network. 

"The Meredith Women's Network is a brand network comprised of all of our core sites," said Lauren Wiener, SVP at Meredith Interactive. "In terms of our advertising and marketing partners, we offer a unique selling platform built on reach, quality brands, composition, customized marketing solutions, and ROI."

The new Meredith Women's Network will encompass Better Homes and Gardens, Parents and Fitness, along with its forthcoming Mixing Bowl social network, and the online communities of Real Girls Media Network.

Combined, those properties reach 15 million unique visitors per month, according to Omniture data cited by Meredith.

Through an investment in the Real Girls Media Network last November, Meredith's network of sites includes DivineCaroline.com which gives Gamma women a space to connect and publish their stories.

The San Francisco-based Real Girls Network is made up of about 30 female-focused communities and social networks, which will add about 3 million unique visitors to Meredith's existing stream of roughly 12 million unique visitors a month.

Later this month, Meredith will launch MixingBowl, a social network built entirely around food, recipes and entertaining. Gannett-owned social media services and tools provider Ripple6 is assisting with the launch of MixingBowl.

Meredith faces intense competition from a number of publishers and publisher networks, targeting a broad swath of women online. The Glam Network constitutes over 40 million monthly unique visitors, which is made up of both women-tailored content and unisex fare from the likes of MyYearBook.com.

Both iVillage and AOL Living, meanwhile, are both responsible for over 15 million monthly uniques.

Last summer, meanwhile, iVillage entered into a strategic partnership with BlogHer, which will give the NBC unit access to BlogHer's network of some 2200 women's blogs, along with promotional opportunities across its female audience. The deal included a $5 million series-B investment, financed by Peacock Equity, the joint venture between NBC Universal and GE Commercial Finance's Media, Communications and Entertainment business, and returning investor Venrock, a venture capital firm.

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