Access Hollywood Gives Web Site a Face Lift

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

NBC Universal’s Access Hollywood Monday launched a beta version of its revamped Web site, AccessHollywood.com, featuring improved social-networking features such as customizable user profiles, games and the ability to upload user-generated video.

“The new design and function of the home page allows for a much more open user experience than a standard blog-style page,” said Betsy Bergman, vice president of marketing for NBCU Domestic Television Distribution, in a statement. “Whether it’s video, photo galleries, articles, polls, etc., users can interact with multiple types of content without ever leaving the page.”

NBCU hopes making the site more intuitive, interactive and video-rich will build community and, thus, traffic. Traffic at the entertainment magazine’s Web site has already grown rapidly, leaping 120% from November 2006 to November 2007 and attracting more than 2 million viewers per month, according to Web analytics firm Omniture.

On Tuesday, NBCU will hold a press conference to demonstrate the site’s new features at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Access Hollywood, consistently the third-highest rated entertainment show in syndication among households, is in its 12th season on the air.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.