Time Inc.?s People is marrying mobile and social with a new iPhone application that lets entertainment fans follow their favorite celebrities.

The CelebWatch app is part of People?s All Access subscription plan, which makes it free to print and digital readers. Consumers without a subscription can buy the app for either 99 cents a month or $9.99 per year.

?With the People CelebWatch app we really rethought both the product and the business model,? said Liz White, general manager at People digital, New York.

?On the product side, we saw an opportunity to move beyond a news and photos feed from the desktop that most entertainment news apps provide and to offer a more customized and premium application,? she said.

?On the business model side, we?ve moved from a one-time payment model to a subscription model. The People subscriber is a tremendously valuable and core part of our business ? they pay an industry-leading more than $100 a year. We believe that by expanding the value of the subscription proposition with digital products that compliment the core weekly magazine experience we can increase loyalty among our existing base and draw new customers in to the brand.?

Celeb news
The CelebWatch app lets consumers customize the reading experience by picking their favorites from a list of more than 200 celebrities.

Consumers can read People articles and swipe through photo galleries.

Additionally, push notifications alert users when a star pops up in the news.

Social media also plays a big role in the new app. Users can set up their news feed to show tweets from specific celebrities.

Consumers can share content via social media, email and SMS.

Cotton is the launch sponsor of the app, which includes banner ads that sit on top of content and snap into place as a user scrolls down the screen. When tapped on, the ad expands into a full-screen experience.

The brand is also integrated into the app?s Twitter section with advertised tweets.

The Cotton campaign is part of a bigger sponsorship across multiple platforms, per Ms. White.

An Android version of the app is planned to be released later this month.

Mobile star tracking
Earlier this year, People redesigned its mobile site with a responsive design approach (see story).

People?s mobile site claims to reach more than five million unique visitors.

The CelebWatch is replacing People?s previous Celebrity News Tracker app, which accumulated more than 500,000 downloads.

With consumers turning to their handsets more to stay up-to-date on news, personalization and curation is increasingly playing a big role in how publishers roll out mobile content.

At the same time, social media usage on mobile devices continues to grow.

?We?ve heard from consumers that the expectation for personalization on mobile is higher than any other platform because of the always-on nature of the device,? Ms. White said.

?At the same time they want to make sure they have the latest news on their favorite celebrities either from People or the celebs themselves,? she said.

?So allowing users to customize their experience and bring in the social feeds of celebrities was really a no-brainer.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York