Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton to launch advertiser-friendly website

by Staff, Brand Republic 18-Jun-09, 11:30

NEW YORK - Blogger Perez Hilton, who is behind gossip site PerezHilton.com, is reportedly planning to launch a site which will focus on longer-form, more advertiser-friendly content that is "snark-free".

The site is expected to launch in August, according to a report on Paidcontent.org, quoting Henry Copeland, the founder and chief executive of BlogAds.com, which sells online ads for PerezHilton.com.

The blog will still be celebrity-based, but will steer away from making snide remarks, which has been the trademark of PerezHilton.com with its short colourful entries that mock celebrities.

However, while the site has attracted ever larger numbers of visitors big brand advertisers have been less enthusiastic about associating with such combustible content.

The launch of PerezHilton.com MkII comes after the success of Microsoft's new MSN gossip site Wonderwall.

Wonderwall, which MSN launched in conjunction with Hollywood TV producers Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman in February, has taken the middle ground between the celebrity-friendly nature of People and the scathing nature of sites like PerezHilton.com or TMZ.