Evolve Media Corp. has launched a Canadian edition of its female-focused web entity SheKnows.com. It is the first of three planned international versions of the site and will be followed by Australian and U.K. editions.
The U.S. version of the site has already proven popular with Canadian women, attracting an estimated 2.3 million unique visitors each month from north of the border.
Walder Amaya, senior vice-president of Canadian and international operations for Los Angeles-based Evolve, predicted that the launch of a Canadian-specific site will produce a “pretty significant lift” in advertising revenues for the site.
“One of the things that became evident to us is that although we have this great Canadian audience that relates to the SheKnows brand and is consuming the product, Canadian advertisers want to be next to Canadian content,” said Amaya. “They know the power of the audience we have, it’s very loyal, and by launching a Canadian-specific site it only deepens the relationship our audience has with the brand and its advertisers.”
SheKnows Canada launched with more than 1,000 articles created by Canadian writers. The entity has a full-time editorial staff of 25 with an additional 100 contributors. “It really allows us to create a community-based product that has high-end editorial, but at the same time is Canadian women speaking to Canadians,” said Amaya.
The launch of SheKnows Canada follows the recent announcement that Rogers Media (Marketing’s owner) is closing eight websites, including the female-focused SweetSpot.ca and its French-language counterpart SweetSpotQC.ca.
“It came as a little bit of a shock in that [Sweetspot.ca] was a well-respected brand in the Canadian market and advertisers were very well aware of it,” said Amaya. “When Rogers purchased it, it was a really nice addition to its female portfolio.”
While Amaya said that Evolve is still digesting the news of SweetSpot.ca’s closure, he was candid about the implications for She Knows Canada: “It’s one less competitor to worry about,” he said.
How does SheKnows compare to Canadian-born competitors? With SweetSpot’s demise, how will this corner of the media market change? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
