Break Media Launches Lifestyle Site for Young Men

The publisher of Break.com has launched a new men’s lifestyle site at MadeMan.com, which it likens to magazines such as Details and Maxim.

Content will focus on topics like gadgets, gear, grub, and women. Recent articles include “The Ultimate At-Work Workout,” “Hot to Get Out of a Speeding Ticket,” and a review of 501 jeans in a can.

MadeMan.com will get the same advertising treatment as Break.com and its family of guy-focused sites: Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco, Screen Junkies, and Wallstreet Fighter. Those properties are routinely branded with custom skins and interactive video ads produced by a team within Break Media that was set up in January. That unit also includes HBOLabs, a production unit the company acquired from the cable channel in April.

Break.com’s previous custom video work includes a series of “Urban Car Legends” it created for Castrol GTX, and interactive video ads it made for Lysol, in which users click on the video to imitate a cleaning motion with their mouse. Other advertisers buy site skins that appear around the editorial content. On Friday Break.com was running one such ad for the Jack Black film “Year One” from Sony Pictures.

We’d love for it all to be video-based, because we already have these great people on staff, but by no means will all of it be custom video,” said Richman. “So many brands are not comfortable with it yet, or it’s not appropriate.” He said in addition to video ad units, the sales team sells home page takeovers, and other integrations including custom promotions and advertorials.

Richman would not name specific advertisers on MadeMan.com, but said a handful of brands have signed on.

Break.com already has a captive audience of over 100,000 readers who opted in to its daily newsletter through the Break.com video newsletter. Through cross promotions on Break Media properties, Richman said MadeMan.com expects to see upwards of a million visitors in its first 30 days. According to Quantcast media planner data the Break Network had a target audience of 12.4 million people in the month of May.

The new site is supported by former staff from Maxim, Stuff, Spike.com, and other men’s interest publications. Break Media VP and Creative Labs head Jonathan Small will oversee editorial and work closely with MadeMan.com managing editor B.J. Flemming, previously a staff writer at Spike.com.