Hearst title Elle in online revamp

The move is in response to the increasing demand for premium online content among the growing number of visitors to the site, put at more than 525,000 unique users a month by Hearst.

Unveiled today (16 January), the redesign includes new ad formats, which are being used by Net-A-Porter, Chloe and Gucci.

The changes are intended to make the sites' content easier to navigate, with greater prominence given to unique Elleuk.com features such as Elle TV, which houses exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from cover shoots, street style and beauty school videos, and footage from catwalk shows around the world.

The aim is to make the site's content easier to navigate with greater prominence given to unique Elleuk.com features such as Elle TV which houses exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from cover shoots, street style and beauty school videos and footage from catwalk shows around the world.

In addition, it incorporates more social elements – boosting the number of comment opportunities and emphasising features such as "like", "share", "retweet" and "print".

Elle has one of the biggest Twitter followings among UK magazines in its genre, at 281,000. and one of the largest Facebook fan bases with 125,000 fans.

Carrie Gorman, editor of Elleuk.com, said: "Elleuk.com's content has always been premium and the new design reflects this perfectly."

The visibility of the site is being improved by digital marketing company iCrossing, which was acquired by Hearst Magazines UK's parent company Hearst Corporation in June 2010.

The UK licence to publish Elle was held by Hachette Filipacchi UK until Hachette merged with the Hearst-owned National Magazine Company to create Hearst Magazines UK last summer.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk