Armed with biometric research showing how brands can best align themselves with cultural happenings, Refinery29 will launch an over-the-top service called Channel29 later this year. \u201cIt will be both a combination of live programming and also pull from our library of incredible content as well as producing new content,\u201d Refinery29 COO Sarah Personette says in this interview with Beet.TV following the company\u2019s Digital Content NewFronts<\/a> event last week.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m psyched about in terms of Channel29 is that we\u2019re going to take the best of what it means to do native advertising inside of the digital space and we are going to bring that model into the TV space.\u201d<\/p>\n In the short term, plans call for a \u201cfull, native integration of content in live programming\u201d and over the course of time \u201cwe will look at doing more consumer-friendly commercials,\u201d Personette adds.<\/p>\n \u201cThat said, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever do a 30-second spot. I think we\u2019ll be focused more so on what we have learned about what it means to consumer video in a mobile-first world, and that means more like six seconds and more like fifteen seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n Available on smart TVs and Refinery29’s<\/a> digital platforms, the channel will be for young, progressive female-oriented stories, as MediaPost reports<\/a>. Refinery29, which has a presence in the UK and Germany, will be expanding its brand to Canada and France.<\/p>\n The goal of Channel29 is to offer \u201cpowerful female stories\u201d wherever and however users want to engage with them. It will benefit from Refinery\u2019s reach on owned-and-operated venues in addition to its broad social media presence, something that has greatly benefited the 29Rooms<\/a> experience.<\/p>\n \u201cWe originally launched 29Rooms as just a pop-up event and invited people to come celebrate with us and there were lines down the corner,\u201d says Personette. \u201cWe have seen the growth of 29Rooms as an experience continue to elevate and escalate over the course of the last three to four years and we feel that same way for channel 29.”<\/p>\n While the hypothesis of Refinery29 has been that if brands can create a social impact it can drive business results, there\u2019s little research to support it. So the company partnered with Spark Neuro<\/a> to conduct quantitative, biometric research.<\/p>\n Among the findings are that when a brand attempts to have an \u201cinclusive human and empathetic conversation and dialogue\u201d with women, it can change their self-perceptions and \u201cdrive better ad recall for that brand. It actually drives increases in purchase intent and it drives increases in overall conversion.”<\/p>\n Refinery29 plans to use the findings to \u201ctake that step into a territory that maybe brands and businesses wouldn\u2019t have been comfortable in before,\u201d Personette says.<\/p>\n