OMG! AOL Launches New Teen Site

By Emily Steel; Source: Wall Street Journal

Cupcakes! Twitter! Twilight! Selena Gomez!

AOL is plunging into the world of all things tween with the launch of new pop culture blog JSYK.

Text-speak for “just so you know,” JSYK features the latest on celebrities, technology and general news for the 9- to 15-year-old set. Recent posts — punctuated with plenty of exclamation points!!! — include stories about a record-breaking 1,316-pound chocolate cupcake and “breaking news” updates on Miley Cyrus’s visit to the emergency room. Visitors can see indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie’s new video, “Meet Me on the Equinox,” and take a quiz about whether 21-year-old “Harry Potter” star Rupert Grint is a “real estate wizard.”

Two AOL staffers are writing for the site, which also includes contributions from tweens themselves. Five girls are blogging from the first Tween Girl Summit in Washington this weekend, as part of AOL’s sponsorship of the event. JSYK also features submissions from Teen Ink, a national magazine featuring poetry, fiction and nonfiction written by 13- to 19-year-olds.

JSYK adds to AOL’s growing stable of content targeted at kids and parents, including KOL.com and ParentDish.com. In July, AOL announced a partnership with children’s media company A Squared Entertainment to publish Web cartoons, featuring Warren Buffett, Martha Stewart, Giselle Bündchen and Carl Sagan.

AOL has been ramping up its production of original content in the past year as part of a broader strategy under CEO Tim Armstrong. It is in the midst of its transition from a subscription-based ISP to an advertising-based digital-media company and is preparing to separate from media giant Time Warner later this year.

At this time last year, about 70% of the content on AOL’s sites came from outside publishers. Today, that ratio has flipped, with AOL creating about 70% of the content on its sites, said Bill Wilson, president of AOL Media. AOL has focused most of its publishing efforts on text-based content and now is boosting its production of videos, mobile and other interactive content.

“We think there’s a big opportunity. Traditional media has obviously had difficulties there with its cost structures. For us, we can leverage the size of our audience and our technology,” he said.

AOL is hoping to replicate the success of its gadget site Engadget and entertainment joint-venture TMZ with a flurry of new ones, such as Politics Daily and DailyFinance. But its previous efforts in the teen area have flopped.

It has seen steep declines in traffic to its teen-focused site BeRed.com, which will be folded into JSYK. The site attracted 371,000 unique U.S. visitors in August, down 68% from the 1.2 million it attracted during the same period last year, according to comScore. Mr. Wilson said that BeRed.com primarily aggregated content from other publishers, and that JSYK will feature more original content.

“This audience is akin to any audience we are targeting. You have to be pretty authentic,” he said.

JYSK faces steep competition. Alloy Media + Marketing, the New York company behind the “Gossip Girl” book-turned-TV series, as well as the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” book-to movie series, is becoming a major force on the Web. It operates the largest teen network on the Web, attracting 11.3 million unique U.S. visitors in August, more than double its audience in the same period last year, according to comScore.

Small Firms, Like Disney, Can Sell to Tweens

By Elizabeth Blackwell; Source: TheStreet

No longer children but not yet teenagers, "tweens" are now considered a powerful consumer demographic in their own right. Between the ages of 8 to 12, kids begin to develop into independent consumers: spending their own allowance money and showing specific brand preferences when shopping with Mom or Dad.

Walt Disney(DIS Quote) has been especially successful appealing to tween girls. The company helped launch the careers of actress Miley Cyrus and pop stars the Jonas Brothers, turning them into international brands available on everything from backpacks to snacks.

But Burbank, Calif.-based Disney hasn't had a comparable hit with tween boys, which might help explain this week's announcement that it will buy Marvel Entertainment(MVL Quote), home of iconic male-oriented characters such as Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk. The Disney marketing machine has convinced tween girls to spend millions on merchandise from Cyrus's show, Hannah Montana; it can probably spin superheroes into a massive new revenue stream.

But there's no reason small companies can't get into the boy business, too. Tween boys have been somewhat overlooked compared to girls. Companies that understand how to appeal to their interests have the advantage of relatively few competitors.

According to youth marketing company Alloy Media + Marketing, tweens spend $51 billion each year, with their families kicking in an additional $170 billion.

To get in on that market, you must understand how tween boys think, says Adriann Fonstein, consumer strategist for AMP Agency, a unit of Alloy. "For them, life is about play. They like silly, physical humor. You have to make them feel like they're in on the joke."

Channel One Network, CBS News to Produce Daily Teen News

(Digital Journal) Channel One Network has plans to work with CBS News to produce its daily newscast for teens, the program will launch this fall. CBS News Productions intends to co-produce "Channel One News." Every school day Channel One News is watched by approximately 6 million middle- and high-school students. "CBS News is committed to providing outstanding coverage, breaking news, politics and human interest stories across many platforms to many audiences and we view America's youth as a uniquely important audience," said Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports. "Our partnership with Channel One expands our commitment to the next generation by reporting the news stories that are important to teens and sharing their unique insights with other CBS News viewers." The programs, which consist of a 12-minute broadcast, will originate from a newly designed set at CBS News headquarters in Manhattan. The "Channel One News" production unit will be based there. Angela Hunter, SVP, Executive Producer of Channel One News, said, "Channel One's broadcast and new social media platforms are fueling young America's thirst for information and providing valuable resources for peer-driven storytelling and responsible reporting." Channel One was founded in 1989 and acquired two years ago by Alloy Media and Marketing. Among the on-camera alumni are Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling.

Alloy Entertainment's "Private" Series Launches on Teen.com; Evan Taubenfeld Joins The Cast!

By Bernadette Giacomazzo (Examiner.com)

“Private”, the online series, based on Alloy Entertainment’s (AE) New York Times bestselling Private books, will debut Tuesday, July 21^st, 2009 on Alloy Media + Marketing's Teen.com “TV” (www.teen.com), a premium digital platform for original and short-from programming and at www.privatetheseries.com, executive producer and AE President Leslie Morgenstein announced today.

Musician Evan Taubenfeld will make his acting debut in Private in the role of “Blake Pearson.” He will also contribute original music to the series. Fans of Avril Lavigne will already be familiar with Taubenfeld’s musical talent. The 26-year-old Baltimore native got his start as Lavigne’s musical director and lead guitarist; he also wrote several of her hits. Evan is preparing to release a debut solo album titled Welcome to the Blacklist Club in the fall of 2009 on Sire Records.

“Alloy Entertainment’s audience is already huge fans of Evan’s music, and we know they are going to be as impressed as we are when they see his acting debut,” said Morgenstein.

Kelsey Sanders will be joining Taubenfeld as series lead “Reed Brennan”. Sanders recently wrapped production on the independent film Au Pair, Kansas and appeared in the film Wild Child opposite Emma Roberts. Tween audiences will also know her from her guest appearances on such hit shows as iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place as well as her hosting spot on Disney’s Movie Surfers where she interviews celebrities behind the scenes on some of Disney’s biggest productions.

The original web program will debut on Tuesday with the launch of Private: The Casting Call, a six-part reality series introducing viewers to the three finalists who were chosen through an online casting contest and follows them as they compete for the role of “Kiran Hayes” in Private. The three week program will chronicle the actresses’ experiences as they face the ups and downs of the audition process as well as compete in various acting challenges. A panel of judges, including Gossip Girl executive producer Bob Levy and “Private” series writers Veronica Becker and Sarah Kucserka (formerly of “Ugly Betty”), will critique the actresses performances at the conclusion of each episode.

Immediately following the conclusion of the reality series, Private, the twenty-episode series will launch on Teen.com “TV” (www.teen.com), airing three new webisodes per-week. Dennie Gordon (“The Ex List,” “What a Girl Wants”) will serve as director of both the original series and the casting of reality competition. Veronica Becker and Sarah Kucserka, who most recently served as writers for the hit ABC hit series Ugly Betty, adapted the Private book series for the web.

“As a murder mystery thriller, we have designed the series for both the Private book fan base as well as the audiences tuning in for the first time,” said executive producer Josh Bank. “From the reality series’ highs and lows to the cattiness of our boarding school girls, Private will keep viewers on the edge of their seats and anticipating the original four minute episodes that will be delivered to them three times weekly throughout the summer.”

The Teen.com “TV” “Private” channel and the dedicated “Private” website (www.privatetheseries.com) will be updated regularly, with additional “bonus” content for fans, including promotional sweepstakes, polls, and interviews with Private author Kate Brian, the series director, writers and cast members, as well as the reality series contestants.

Private, by author Kate Brian, continues to be published twice annually by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Paradise Lost: Private, Book 9 was released on February 24, 2009 and is a New York Times bestseller.