Jennifer Lopez Is On the Tiger Beat!

By Vanessa Beatriz Soto

Remember Tiger Beat? The classic teen gossip mag, along with its little-sister publication Bop have papered many a locker and bedroom wall since its launch in 1965. I myself may have had the odd Monkee (Davy Jones) or New Kid (Jordan) slipped between my bedroom vanity mirror and frame (I was not allowed to tape anything to my walls. MOM.) back in the day...

But it's the future now, and everything old is new again, y'all. Including an all-new Tiger Beat!

Yep -Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions, in conjunction with the Believe Entertainment Group, has announced an upcoming digital video series, "Tiger Beat Entertainment," which will be shot in the Hollywood studios of AOL's young adult platform Cambio, which recently relaunched with backing from Mark Burnett and Warner Brothers, among others.

It's being billed as "an ongoing series 'for, about, and by teens and young adults" and will serve up a tasty blend of content on "celebrity, entertainment, music, TV, film, books, gaming and apps news as well as social media and Twitter trends and targeted lifestyle topics such as fashion & beauty, food, health & wellness, decor, relationships and more."

The plan is to have a panel of young adult anchors hosting the web show, with tons of support from social media and loads of interactivity and contribution from their audience of peers.

No doubt with AOL, JLo, Burnett, Warner Brothers and other smart folks backing it, this new web series will find, at the least, a curious and welcoming audience and a warm reception over at Cambio. The question in my mind is whether Tiger Beat the magazine will survive Tiger Beat the show. (Sidebar: do you think they'll change the name? What's up with that, anyway?)

We've heard a lot about the "Video Killed the Radio Star" phenomenon, where the light-speed of the world wide web makes printed periodicals obsolete almost before they hit the newsstand at the candy store. For a publication like Tiger Beat, whose key demographic targets are tweens and young teens, it sounds like a fine exit strategy-cum-transition to new media to me.

What's your take on Tiger Beat for the web? Fill us in in the comments!

Tags AOL, blogger: Vanessa Beatriz Soto, Chisme, Jennifer Lopez, Mark Burnett, New Kids on the Block, popnews, The Monkees, Tiger Beat