Female-focused Refinery29 sees its audience responsibility as “to service them, not to sell them” and it’s further expanding its video reach with a streaming service later this year. Called Channel29, the over-the-top offering will be available on smart televisions and on Refinery29’s digital channels to reach young and progressive women.
“I truly believe the audience is the boss,” Refinery29’s Chief Content Officer, Amy Emmerich, says in this interview with Beet.TV at the recently completed Digital Content NewFronts 2018.
Refinery29’s audience makes itself known through “the way they talk to us every single day” through comments, shares, engagements and “direct interactions” via its Mad Chatter feedback platform plus live events, Emmerich adds. Those insights are mixed with “the love and care and attention of people who work within the building who are also women of all kinds. And then we put them together to decide where can we use all of this power and make sure that we’re covering the things that we know matter to them.”
Topics like representation, sex and money “are the categories that they’re trying to own in the future that people are still quite ignoring them on.”
Refinery29’s editorial team leads with stories and series as opposed to platforms in considering how best to engage with its audiences. “It’s not where it is, it’s what it is,” says Emmerich.
At its NewFronts presentation, Refinery29 announced the upcoming launch of “Beauty and the Beats,” which executive creative director and Refinery29 co-founder Piera Gelardi described as a “mobile, virtual reality DJ battle. It will be like a dance party that can go anywhere,” as MediaPost reports.
In all, Refinery29 announced 10 new and six returning digital video series, some in partnership with companies and brands.
Emmerich describes the new series as “a bit more investigative. Really taking our editorial team and putting them in front of the lens and trying to dive into the topics that they cover.”
A new series titled Shady investigates the business of counterfeit cosmetics, while Pride is a six-part documentary series featuring producer Christine Vachon that addresses LGBTQ issues “through a historical lens but also layering pop culture,” says Emmerich.
This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the Digital Content NewFronts 2018. The series a co-presentation of Beet.TV and the IAB. Please see additional videos from the series on this page.
