MTV Partners with Seventeen Magazine; Testing New Browser-Based Environment

Hearst Magazines Digital Media and MTV Networks announced a partnership today for a virtual issue of Seventeen magazine in a new virtual world called Cribs. The December/January print edition of the magazine will promote the partnership with access to a closed-beta of Cribs, MTV's first virtual environment that doesn't require any download, as well as exclusive editorial content and virtual goods in the full-download version of vMTV.

Editorial content will link back out through Seventeen.com and includes stories on Seventeen’s 2008 Style Stars, the guys of the movie Twilight and the annual Give Back Gift Guide.  Inside of Cribs, users will be able to create their own avatar and living space--with a poster of the magazine's cover.

They can also head to the full version of vMTV where they can receive a wide range of virtual swag, including a digital version of Seventeen magazine, branded clothes and accessories, a Rugby Ralph Lauren bag available for purchase both in the virtual world and in the real world, and an invite to the issue launch party tonight with a meet and greet from magazine editors and an appearance from reality TV star Whitney Port.

MTV has experimented with purely browser-based experiences before and is still Gaia Online to funnel traffic back to vMTV and was working to take Virtual Lower East Side to the browser as well, though this will be the first vMTV-proper browser experience.  The collection of worlds, largely based on MTV shows, boasts 1.6 million registered users since its launch in 2006. With the removal of a download as a barrier to entry and new promotional partnerships, I'd expect that to grow much more rapidly now.