Glam Media Becomes Mode Media, Pushes Into Video With New Shows, Distribution Platform At NewFront

Glam Media became Mode Media on Tuesday as it unveiled a plan to branch out beyond its fashion and beauty beginnings. The company now has content channels aimed at appealing to both men and women.

Mode already claims to reach more men ages 18-34 than ESPN and cited comScore data showing it has a reach of over 250 million monthly visitors worldwide across its web properties.

That technically makes it the seventh biggest online media company. Glam, now Mode, says it’s the only pure content play, though, and that after taking out non-content parts of other media companies — search, for example — Mode rises to the number two spot.

Mode showed off 10 new original shows that will air across several of its channels including more female fare such as “Supermarket Adventures” and “Mi Casa Su Casa” as well as two new shows targeted at men. “Who’s The Real Alpha?” pits famous males against each other in a battle of testosterone — think Leonardo da Vinci pitted against George Bush, Napoleon vs. Tom Cruise. The other male oriented show is “What if I wasn’t,” an unscripted show in which pro athletes are given chance to choose a new career in the real world.

The company is partnering with CAA and launching Mode Studios based in LA to support the new push in original content.

A new native video player is designed to make discovery and viewing easy for consumers and advertisers. Videos launch in full screen view rather than within a standard player frame.

To address the challenge of distribution, Samir Arora, founder and CEO of Mode, said that through Mode Video Distribution they can program and distribute native video embedded throughout their current reach of content pages today. The company will also tap their network of 6,000 affiliates to distribute video content.