Editors at Cosmopolitan magazine won’t just be tossing out “75 Sex Moves Men Crave” cover stories in the future — those ideas may be fodder for reality shows, thanks to a new deal between publisher Hearst Corp. and reality producer Mark Burnett.
Hearst said yesterday it is buying a 50 percent stake in Mark Burnett Productions as a way to feed its ownership in multiple cable channels, magazines, a TV station group and a myriad other destinations.
Terms were not disclosed. The deal does not include Burnett’s biggest hits — “Survivor” on CBS and “The Apprentice” on NBC.
While not mentioned, the move comes as Google, AOL, Yahoo! and Netflix are also ratcheting up professionally produced video beyond the bounds of the TV screen.
Hearst, which owns minority stakes in ESPN and A&E Television Networks, which houses A&E, History Channel and Lifetime, won’t automatically get first right of refusal on new show concepts, but it will get to build so-called 360-degree projects and bring in ad partners.
While History has been succeeding with reality hits such as “Ice Road Truckers,” Lifetime has struggled.
Burnett has deep experience in the product placement field, and his privately held company is said to make “tens of millions” of dollars through those efforts. Still, his dominance in the reality field is being increasingly challenged.
“We don’t know what’s going to win [as a popular viewing platform], whether it’s iPads or phones or PCs, but good content will always be central to success,” said Scott Sassa, president of Hearst Entertainment and Syndication. “Mark has been a prolific producer; building businesses, not TV shows, is the goal.”