Condé Nast’s Brides is jumping on the digital video trend for its Brides Live Wedding, where readers can plan a couple’s wedding via social media by voting on everything from the dress to the flowers. The program, in its second year, includes a weekly episodic series on YouTube.
In the series, which begins in mid-March, three couples will compete to win a crowdsourced wedding that will be livestreamed on Brides.com, Facebook and YouTube. Every aspect of the wedding will have a sponsor, from the registry (Target) to hair and beauty (Neutrogena) and wedding bands (Simon G.). Other sponsors include Sally Hansen, Invitations by Dawn and Jos. A. Bank.
Producing the series is Giant Pirates Entertainment, whose founders were behind big-name reality shows like Project Runway and Top Chef. Condé Nast Entertainment, which has been translating the publisher's magazine brands into video to capitalize on advertisers' demand for digital video inventory, wasn't involved in this venture, said Brides vp, publisher Michelle Myers.
Bridal shows are already a TV mainstay thanks to all the inherent drama of wedding planning. Myers said the magazine chose YouTube because of its mass reach among younger consumers. “YouTube reaches more U.S. adults 18 to 34 than most cable networks,” she said. “Our brides are millennials, and this is where millenials are—on YouTube.”
According to Myers, the first Live Wedding was a big success: The magazine had guaranteed 250 million media impressions, and ended up delivering nearly than 1 billion. The program was even the target of a bit of bridezilla behavior itself when Brides rival The Knot announced that it would host its own "first live wedding" just weeks before Brides'.