(7 February 2009 9:30 pm)

MUMBAI: MSN and media company BermanBraun Interactive in the US have announced the beta launch of their site Wonderwall, defined to be an entertainment and celebrity content destination. Wonderwall aims to offer people a perspective on the day’s hottest pop culture stories, personalities and trends.

The site utilises horizontal scrolling that emulates the feeling of flipping through a magazine. Filled with celebrity information, photos, videos and features, wonderwall.com presents its topics using a design that features a wall of photos and graphics.

Alex Blagg, former founding editor of VH1’s 'Best Week Ever' blog, has been tapped as lead editor of Wonderwall. Blagg brings with him experience from VH1, where he won two consecutive Webby awards for Best Celebrity/Fan Site. Blagg has also been a featured panelist on Fox News and Sirius Satellite Radio. His writing has appeared in many online and print publications, including The Huffington Post, Spin magazine and Gawker.com.

MSN GM network programming Rob Bennett says, “We believe Wonderwall will strike a chord with people that will have them laughing out loud and coming back for more.”

84 per cent of people on the internet in the US visit an entertainment site every month, making the entertainment category one of the most popular categories, over social networking, games, travel, news/information, or even retail online sites. The entertainment gossip category continues to grow rapidly, increasing 14 per cent in the last year alone.

BermanBraun partners Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun said, “We saw an exciting opportunity to aggregate and program MSN’s celebrity/pop culture content in a visually arresting way. We are thrilled to work with MSN in bringing our new online destination to its vast audience and advertising partners.”