CoverAwards' Exclusive: Bauer Publishing Creates Unique Teen Experience with 4TNZ.com

Bauer Publishing launched 4TNZ in May 2008 and describes it as “the first humor-only site for American tweens/teens.”

Sebastian Ratz, Director, New Media for Bauer Publishing, shared exclusively with CoverAwards background on the recently launched venture plus how it’s progressing:

Who is 4TNZ.com targeted to?

Tweens/teens who need a break from a stressful life with school and homework.

What’s the site’s general edit philosophy?

Our official mission statement: “4TNZ.com is a first-of-its-kind, online-only humor factory for American teens.

Combining outrageous embarrassing stories, hilarious quizzes, and original video episodes in a highly interactive, frequently-updated environment, 4TNZ.com’s mission is to offer teens a whimsical escape from their hectic daily responsibilities.

4TNZ.com delivers a buzz-worthy online destination that combines the spontaneity and excitement of blogs and user-generated sites with the editorial oversight and direction of a full-time writing staff.”

What is the site’s revenue model?

Integrated advertising campaigns. To name a few of 4TNZ’s advertisers so far: Hachette Books, Activision’s Guitar Hero, and Universal Music’s Clique Girlz album.

How does the site work with Bauer’s teen titles?

There is very friendly cooperation amongst 4TNZ.com, J-14, M and Twist (cross-promotion, as well as exchange of ideas).

I noticed the site had a redesign.  Was that based on user feedback? If not, what was it based on?

Yes, it was a slight re-design based on what we learned from focus groups, but also from click paths our reporting tool tracks.

The design overhaul increases usability significantly—the site is easier to navigate; at the same time the sites presents itself to its teen audience more visually and with more content only a button-click away.

How are you driving traffic to the site?

We receive a lot of traffic from teen celebrity blogs and partner sites. Our original and funny content makes it very valuable to them so that they pick it up and link back to us (two examples:

1. Exclusive interview with Cody Linley garnered almost half a million views on YouTube and hence much traffic to our site

2. Very recently we did a spoof of Joe Jonas’ and Taylor Swift’s 27-second break-up call

Furthermore, MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook are also great traffic generators for us.

Our friends/subscribers/fans on these sites receive updates on our content and therefore return to our site as well as tell their friends about it.

Of course, we receive traffic from Google, too, which is why we constantly do SEO.

Which teen stars are most popular on the site?

Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Zac Efron, and Miley Cyrus

How often do you update content?

Constantly. 4TNZ is an online-only brand, with online-only staff, and therefore fully embraces the “update whenever there’s new content” mantra which is prevalent on the internet.

What do teens respond to the most on the site, e.g. contests, content, quizzes?

Teens love funny stories and quizzes. Everything that’s Jonas Brothers related (and that could be a quiz or a funny story, too) gets the strongest response.