Can Yahoo Out-'Shine' Glam and iVillage?
“April is orgasm month!” proclaim bloggers Em and Lo in one today’s posts on Yahoo’s new women’s site, Shine. “Why? Because we say so.”Shine looks to have jumped out of the gate at high speed after hiring eight experienced editors to create and manage the site’s content.
“The editors have been chosen and are blogging away, ” says Yahoo’s Bahareh Ramin. “(They) will write original content and partners will write original content as well as give us magazine content and images.” Ramin notes that this is “the first time we’re targeting a key demographic (women 25-54).”
That places Shine in direct competition with two other women’s sites profiled here recently — Glam and iVillage. In that context, Shine has a distinct advantage in the estimated 40 million women who already visit Yahoo every month. By contrast, Glam had roughly 29 million unique visitors in February compared to a little over 16 million for iVillage.
On their About Us page, Shine’s editors said “…what you won’t find on Shine: ‘Advice on how to please your man’ and diets that urge you to ‘lose 10 pounds fast!’” Migrating around the site today, I found what you will find on one Shine is a refreshing sense of humor. There isn’t a hint of the earnestness often associated (or at least perceived to be associated) with women’s sites.
As for the execs at Glam and iVillage, this may soon prove to be no laughing matter.
In addition to serving as a BNET Media analyst/blogger, David Weir is a veteran journalist and the author of several books. Weir is a co-founder and vice-president of the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as an editorial board member of The Nation.
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