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Page Six, the celebrity and gossip arm of the New York Post, has spent a year building a new video studio, Page Six Studio, to help the entertainment title dramatically increase the volume of its video content.
The project is the latest in a series of efforts undertaken by the Post to position Page Six as a standalone brand, said Brad Elders, the chief operating officer at the Post, to diversify its advertising business, expand its audience and strengthen its non-news products.
“This was not fully motivated by the fact that news has become a pariah for some advertisers,” Elders said. “It was that, coupled with the fact that we had this huge opportunity in front of us.”
Page Six could reach a larger, different demographic, providing the Post—a regional news publisher whose reporting skews conservative—a degree of insulation against the cyclicality of news media, said Andrew Becks, chief strategy officer at the media agency 301 Digital.
An overlooked asset
The 47-year-old entertainment title Page Six has its own branding and a separate website, making it easier to pitch as a distinct party.
Between the studio buildout and a series of new editorial and sales hires, the gossip watchdog has received the largest net-new investment in the last year, according to the publisher.
Page Six attracts between 25 million to 30 million unique monthly visitors, per Comscore, and the majority of its audience lives outside of New York, said Shannon Toumey, vice president of strategy and partnerships.
In addition, a series of a-ha moments helped the Post realize the latent potential of Page Six, said Elders.
When Taylor Swift visited New York for a handful of dinners last fall, Page Six’s report drove a traffic windfall, hinting at the size of its untapped audience.
Another hit came from its podcast Virtual Reali-Tea, which follows hosts Evan Real and Danny Murphy as they chronicle the goings-on of the Real Housewives cast and other members of the Bravo extended universe.
The podcast is filmed and hosts live tapings, which often feature talent from the series, attracting a fervent fanbase, said Page Six managing editor Ally D’Aluisio. With the new video studio producing 15 to 20 video segments per day, Page Six hopes to improve its odds of turning those moments into pops of virality.
