Mag Rack, Rainbow Media’s niche video-on-demand service for hobbyists, has formed a content-development and marketing and promotion alliance with American Express Publishing, which publishes Food & Wine and T&L Golf magazines, among other luxury-lifestyle national titles.
AMEX and Mag Rack will jointly develop and market video content for the new VOD service, which launched last fall and is currently available on Cablevision’s digital tier in the greater New York tristate area. Mag Rack is negotiating carriage agreements with three additional multiple system operators, said Matt Strauss, the service’s executive VP and general manager.
AMEX and Mag Rack also will co-brand and co-promote content, and Mag Rack will have access to the AMEX subscriber lists for direct-mail marketing, Mr. Strauss said.
Mag Rack will draft editors from the AMEX magazines to serve as hosts and advisers in the development of new video content that appeals to foodies, oenophiles and golf-course habitues. That content will be employed on current Mag Rack video magazines devoted to golf and wine and in a cooking video magazine still in development.
As part of the deal, Mag Rack will promote the AMEX magazines in video spots at the tail of appropriate programming and also will offer magazine-subscription incentives. In turn, AMEX is providing a schedule of advertising placements for Mag Rack in its magazines.
Mag Rack reached a similar deal with Primedia last December to develop video magazines in conjunction with American Baby, Automobile, Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines.
T&L Golf (formerly Travel & Leisure Golf) magazine is a bimonthly with more than 566,000 subscribers. Food & Wine is a monthly with more than 978,000 subscribers.
At latest count, Mag Rack is offering 22 video titles on subjects ranging from astronomy and art history to basketry and motorcycling. The service expects to offer up to 40 titles by year-end. Rainbow Media is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.