Sex And The Single Site

This story was written by David Kaplan.

For the moment, that's how Turner likes it. Although conceived by the New Products group as a one-off beta to coincide with the release of Sex And The City the movie, TheFrisky is enjoying the freedom of not being tied down to any of the properties in the Time Warner family. Kind of like online dating, TheFrisky (tagline: "a daily romp on the sexy side") is talking with other similarly focused sites, like Yahoo's Shine and StyleHive, about sharing its news, commentary and videosbut right now, it's all casual, nothing serious. I spoke with Guhan Selvaretnam, New Products' group lead, and Lea Ann Leming, the New Products group managing editor, about their plans for the site and sudden appearance of a number of new sites for women.

-- Sex and the single women's site: Taking inspiration from Sex And The City, which was produced by Time Warner siblings HBO and New Line Cinema, TheFrisky's connection to the movie is decidedly downplayed. The goal isn't to serve as an online vehicle for the film - or any Turner programming either, for that matter, said Selvaretnam. That said, Turner's popularity with women in general provided enough of an impetus for the company to create a standalone site. Selvaretnam: "We launched in beta in mid-March and it will remain in that state for a while. The underlying rationale, was actually a sales rationale initially, where we were looking at creating cross-platform, integrated sales opportunities. We found that many of Turner's on-air properties are number one in the 18-34 female demo. And TheFrisky represents our ability to deliver that demo to our marketers, especially given our dominance on air. That said, TheFrisky is not tied to any of the Turner brands. The online audience is pretty independent in terms of the sites they value, so we didn't see the need to tie it to any of Turner's existing properties." More after the jump.

-- Filling the gap: While there isn't exactly a dearth of women's websites, Leming felt that most lean a little too far in a single direction. Leming: "We did look closely in the marketplace and did see a gap for women. In terms of love and sex topics for women, you have generic content about dating and how to meet a man, and on the other end of the spectrum, you have content that is overtly sexy: essentially sites that are talking about 'how to do a man.' That wasn't representative of most women. They want something different and more subtle. Getting back to Sex And The City, it really changed the conversation on TV and we wanted to do the same online. And just as the show isn't just about sex, neither is TheFrisky. We also cover fashion, health, travel and news, along with a mix of recurring columns as you would find in a magazine."

-- Platform leap?: When I asked Selvaretnam and Lerning about the crowded landscape with Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Shine and NBC's recently announced Women@NBCU, as well as Warner Bros. TV Group's MomLogic and current work on Essence magazine's revamped website, the two said that they are in talks with competitors about ways they can partner. But Selvaretnam said the site needs to develop greater scale first before it can embark on a serious relationship. Down the road, though, other possibilities remain, he said: "Does this potentially lend itself to a magazine or TV show spinoff? That's something we've discussed. But let me be clear, that's not Turner's position, nor is it Turner's intent. That said, there are good examples like [AOL's] TMZ, which started off as a site and has made the leap to TV. This site has sparked tremendous interest among our partners, who are themselves thinking about doing a joint venture into different mediums."

By David Kaplan