Hachette aims to make apps hack it for mags
Monied apps. Hachette Filipacchi Media US has released a quintet of branded apps – Elle Shopping Guide, Elle Astrology, Woman’s Day Cooking Assistant, Car and Driver Buyer’s Guide and Cycle World – to strut their mobile stuff on the iPhone and iPod touch.
The Cooking Assistant and Car and Driver Buyer’s Guide are the publisher’s first applications focused on providing utility and have been launched as free, ad-supported services. Both apps have major sponsors in Unilever/Knorr and Toyota, respectively.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve built a profitable multichannel mobile business through our mobile web sites, SMS programs and premium content sales,” says Todd Anderman, svp of digital media at Hachette. “As we invest in apps that are being monetized through advertising and premium downloads, we are focusing on branded apps that are both entertaining and informative as well as those that provide utility and location-based services.”
