Corus Entertainment’s W Network has launched a pair of branded online extensions, W Dish and W View, as it looks to attract younger viewers and potentially broaden its advertiser base.
In development for nine months, WDish.com and WView.com are dedicated to daily lifestyle coverage and short-form video respectively. Although each of the Toronto media company’s individual TV and radio properties has an online site, the new W-branded sites are its first standalone web entities.
Sue Mackay, vice-president, digital, women and family for Corus Entertainment, called W Network a “really powerful” brand, but said that WNetwork.com’s content has traditionally been closely aligned with that of the TV channel.
“What we wanted to do digitally was really leverage that brand and look at the digital audience beyond just the people within the W digital footprint,” she said.
While Corus did contemplate housing the new content within a dedicated section on WNetwork.com, Mackay said the new offshoots are designed to appeal to a slightly younger audience than the TV channel’s core demographic of women 25-54. The target audience for the two new sites is women 25-44, said Mackay.
“It gives us a little bit more permission to talk about things we might not talk about on the W Network brand,” she said. “They’re in the same spirit, they just have slightly different interests.”
W Dish content is a blend of original stories and articles from bloggers, YouTube creators and contributors from its partner YummyMummyClub.ca. Its content verticals include style, life, entertainment, food and wellness, with daily stories on fashion and beauty and celebrity gossip.
The site’s editorial team is also producing its own short-form digital videos and features live editorial meetings on YouTube every Friday at 2 p.m.
W View houses video content from across platforms and creators, including the global women’s lifestyle video network Kin Community, for which Corus led a US$12 million financing round in September.
Mackay said that Kin excels at creating advertiser-friendly content that is specifically targeted to female audiences. “It’s our intent to grow with them in Canada,” she said.
Advertising on W Dish will include traditional ad units as well as takeover opportunities and content integration, while W View will include offer original content and native advertising opportunities.
The two sites launched with advertising from Sunwing.ca, which is running a contest for a trip for two to Memories Grand Bahama Beach and Casino Resort. Sunwing ads are also appearing on W Network as well as radio and on various Corus newsletters.
