When is an online unit not an online unit? When it’s a “new product development team”. Magazine publisher Dennis is shuffling the chairs, creating a new 10-strong division – headed by lifestyle titles MD Bruce Sandell – that will aim to “identify new opportunities that will lead to sustainable media businesses” (via Media Week). If that – and the fact the in-house Skunkworks digital team is being absorbed in to the new unit – sounds like a purely digital move, note the new team’s intention to start new titles “across a number of media”.
But Dennis does say it wants to start more digital titles like Monkey, the page-turner-in-a-Flash-app. 2008 is “the year of new product development”, Sandell said – and this restructure is part of a long-term plan. The Skunkworks team started 12 months ago and has launched online-only blogs like DenOfWii and KnowYourMobile, so expect more along that line.