With inventory often limited to units that can be sold out at any given time, Canwest is seeking to increase its digital ad space with a new online-only series for Slice. JacLife follows Jaclyn Genovese, a Toronto scenester who spends her time club-hopping with equally attractive, dramatic friends. (Think less gritty than Jersey Shore, but not as all-consuming as The Hills.)

It’s the first time the channel has commissioned a web series that wasn’t about food or home-building, says VP of digital media Paul Burns.

JacLife is also the perfect opportunity for branded content, he adds. ‘This is about a Canadian girl who we find very interesting, so there is a whole range of brands that fit well. There’s a compelling argument to have brands’ products incorporated into the content of the program. We view this as a branded content experience,’ says Burns.

The site will also feature a dress-up game, a dictionary of JacLife lingo and a photo blog with beauty tips and gossip.

‘Web TV is picking up steam as a credible platform,’ he says, nodding to American Idol‘s new web-only offering on Hulu. ‘For Canwest, online video is the fastest-growing area for revenue and audience engagement… We’re at a scenario that a definitive strategy is to increase the ad inventory that we have across our sites and this is a good experiment to try that.’

The show is being promoted online and on Slice.

From Media in Canada