How ‘AVG Male Magazine’ Tumblr Will Complement New FXX Show ‘Man Seeking Woman’

By Adam Flomenbaum 

man-seeking-womanPremiering on FXX tonight (10:30pm EST) is ‘Man Seeking Woman,’ a new comedy starring Jay Baruchel that will follow his character – Josh Greenberg – as he navigates blind dates, break-ups, and one-night stands. The show, like the Simon Rich book of short stories it is based on (‘The Last Girlfriend on Earth’), will play out in the form of reality and surreality.

Last time we saw Jay Baruchel in a surreal comedy was ‘This is the End’ – so we’ll bite. Baruchel has the average male down pat, and ahead of the premiere of the show, FXX has created a magazine on Tumblr called ‘AVG Male Magazine.’ The magazine is styled like GQ and is comprised of the sections ‘Feature,’ ‘Dating,’ ‘Style,’ and ‘TV.’ Content includes animated GIFs, listicles, videos, and cartoons – perfect for the Tumblr audience.

For more on the idea behind ‘AVG Male Magazine’ and how it will complement ‘Man Seeking Woman,’ Lost Remote spoke with FX Network’s Director of Social Media, Joe Paulding:

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Lost Remote: What was the idea behind AVG Male Magazine?

Joe Paulding: To help launch Man Seeking Woman, we wanted to have a digital presence that encouraged viewers to enjoy and share content from the show, but also allowed us to create original material that kept with the theme of an underdog struggling to find love. We ended up creating a playful parody of men’s lifestyle magazine featuring a lot of really fun and irreverent content that will be rolled out throughout the season.

LR: How does the magazine complement ‘Man Seeking Woman’? How will it be updated throughout the season?

Paulding: AVG Male aligns well with Man Seeking Woman’s main character’s (Jay Baruchel) attempts at dating and also gives us the freedom to pull in elements of hyper-literal fantasy theme of the show. We’re going to feature a mix of content derived from the show and content that was created specifically for the AVG Male Magazine concept. Show content will include stills and GIFs and thematic image cards, while AVG Male will consist of magazine style features, fake advertisements and more. The content we’re creating is intended for use on social. It’s bite sized and we believe that fans on Tumblr will enjoy it and share it, but also come back and navigate through our page for a wider offering of content.

LR: Of all possible platforms, why develop the magazine on Tumblr?

Paulding: Tumblr allows us the flexibility to create a themed microsite that allows us to do more than just post content to a traditional social page. We gained flexibility in the theme with a custom layout and organic methods for following and sharing. We were able to create a custom layout, while retaining the benefit of users being able to organically share our content and follow our page.

LR: Anything else?

Paulding: Even though this content is being created under the AVG Male theme on Tumblr, we will be able to share individual pieces on other social media platforms.

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