Hearst To Launch 'Delish,' A Food Site With MSN

Hearst Magazines and Microsoft's MSN are developing food site, Delish, scheduled for launch this fall. Hearst will edit and design the site, located at at Delish.com and delish.msn.com, while MSN will distribute the site and sell advertising. The deal expands a two-year partnership between Hearst's digital arm and MSN.

In addition to selling Delish, MSN will sell food category advertising across a number of Hearst Web properties: Countryliving.com, Goodhousekeeping.com, Quickandsimple.com and Redbookmag.com. In a statement, the companies say they anticipate MSN's distribution will immediately make Delish a top-10 food destination.

Hearst Magazines Digital Media operates 23 Web sites including the Web operations of magazines like Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, as well as web-only businesses like TheDailyGreen.com, Kaboodle.com, RealAge.com and Answerology.com.

Full release follows:

HEARST MAGAZINES AND MSN PARTNER TO LAUNCH NEW FOOD SITE IN FALL 2008

-- Anticipated traffic on Delish.com would immediately rank the site as one of the top 10 food destinations online --

New York and Redmond, WA – July 8, 2008 – Hearst Magazines and MSN today have partnered to develop and launch a new food-related Web destination named Delish.com, also available at delish.msn.com. The new site, which will launch in fall 2008 and will exist as its own brand, will be owned, built and edited by Hearst Magazines Digital Media and distributed by MSN. The terms of the deal puts Hearst Magazines Digital Media in charge of the design, development and editorial vision of the site, while MSN will be responsible for advertising sales and primary distribution of the site’s content through the MSN network. MSN and Hearst anticipate that Delish.com’s traffic numbers will immediately place the site into the top 10 food-related destinations online.

Delish.com will be accessible through the MSN home page and in editorial programming across its network, including on the MSN Lifestyle Channel and other relevant channels. In addition, all of the advertising inventory for Delish.com will be sold by the MSN sales team, which will also sell targeted inventory in the food category on Countryliving.com, Goodhousekeeping.com, Quickandsimple.com and Redbookmag.com.

“Our Digital Media unit has been working with MSN for several years and both teams see this as an opportunity to add further depth to what has proven to be a very successful relationship,” said John Loughlin, executive vice president and general manager, Hearst Magazines. “This is an exciting announcement for Hearst and MSN as it will provide original online content that leverages our magazine brands’ strength in food and entertaining, and it significantly expands our online presence. Our content, coupled with the enormous reach of MSN’s audience, is a very powerful combination.”

“It is estimated that there are currently 60 million unique visitors to food-related Web sites,” said Jeff Dossett, executive producer and general manager, MSN. “With a dedicated sales staff on the MSN side and Hearst’s notable expertise in both Web site and content development, we are confident that Delish.msn.com will be a leader in this growing category.”

Chuck Cordray, vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, added, “We are excited about Delish.com and its ability to offer consumers a new take on the food category. It is a great opportunity to showcase daily, original features and our magazines’ winning content on food and entertaining, all presented within a sophisticated online platform and disseminated using the ubiquitous presence of MSN.”

Delish.com is about more than just recipes. In addition to thousands of recipes, site visitors will experience the lifestyle elements associated with food through articles, photo galleries, video and interactive tools. The site will also combine recipes and how-to’s with engaging content that focuses on entertainment and pop culture as it relates to food.