While Cityline is already Canada’s longest-running daytime talk show, it is continuing to expand its brand by tapping some of its most popular contributors and topics to extend programming into YouTube series.
Starting Sept. 14, three new series will be launched. Rick Matthews, director of content strategy for in-house lifestyle and entertainment brands at Rogers Sports and Media, says choosing to have the three series on YouTube builds on the success Cityline has had on the platform with segments reformatted from the TV program and its previous digital series.
“We’re constantly looking for new ways to engage with our audience in new ways and to expand the kind of content we’re doing outside of optimizing what fans can find on the show everyday,” he says. “What I love about digital platforms is we have a very strong Canadian audience but we’re also building a new global audience.”
The first new series, Deepa Does It with Deepa Prashad will run every Tuesday at 11 a.m. for five weeks. Prashad will invite a professional chef into the Cityline kitchen and, armed with a recipe and some guidance, will try to recreate a trending dish.
On Side Hustle + Bustle with Vivian Kaye, Kaye hosts a masterclass in entrepreneurship. It takes over the Tuesday 11 a.m. timeslot beginning Oct. 19 for five weeks.
The last series, Face It with Tracy Peart (pictured, above), starts Nov. 23 in the same slot for a five-week run. The show is all about the hottest makeup looks with lots of advice for achieving a polished look.
Each episode typically runs between 15 and 20 minutes.
“These three personalities are already very popular contributors to Cityline the show,” Matthews says. “But more than that, we did extensive research, what resonates with our audience, and also what performs across social in a broader sense. That’s how we landed on each of these highly engaging personalities – and also the concept for each of the series.”
Brand advertising and sponsorship can be integrated into each series or inserted into existing episodes. Also, this month, Cityline will be unveiling a new studio, with features created with integrations from Samsung and Home Sense.
Although the series live primarily on YouTube, Matthews says they can be rolled out to other platforms, so there are opportunities to create broadcast and radio extensions as well.
