Lifetime acquires ParentsClick

Jen Duddy hired as VP of digital ad sales

By DANIEL FRANKEL

Duddy

Buoyed by a digital sales upfront that saw its broadband revenues double, Lifetime has made a significant expansion to its digital media operations with the acquisition of social networking and online media technology company ParentsClick Network and the hiring of Jen Duddy to the newly created position of VP, digital ad sales.

Included in the San Francisco-based ParentsClick's portfolio are MothersClick.com, a maternally focused social networking site, and MomBlogNetwork.com, which launched last year and now features more than 2,500 registered blogs. With the acquisition, Lifetime also gets ParentsClick's portfolio of more than 200 parenting-related domains, which include URLs FathersClick.com and MothersGroups.com.

ParentsClick founder and CEO Dietrich von Behren will assume the title of VP, digital media and investments for Lifetime and will operate out of the cabler's newly established offices in San Francisco along with his existing team.

Lifetime officials say the acquisition of a parent-focused broadband business meshes well with Lifetime's female audience profile.

Duddy will try to bolster that synergy in her new role, in which she'll oversee all digital ad sales while working with Lifetime's digital development team to come up with customized online offerings for advertising clients. She arrives from Electronic Arts, where she was director of in-game advertising.

Lifetime's thirst for online expansion follows not only an increased number of multiplatform ad deals at this year's upfront but also a 48% surge in traffic in July for the MyLifetime.com site that put it up to 3.7 million unique visitors and more than 75 million page views.