Parade magazine has launched an application aimed at letting consumers stay up-to-date with the latest celebrity news.

The app is available for iPhone devices and aggregates Parade's editorial content. Parade is working with app developer and ad network Zumobi on this initiative.

?The strategy is to extend the power of the Parade brand and editorial content to a mobile app, providing users with an interactive, on-the-go Parade experience, while offering brand advertisers a new and unique way to engage with the Parade audience,? said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, Seattle.

?The primary goal is to create a new and unique way for Parade's 65 million dedicated followers of popular culture to interact with the Parade brand and to attract advertisers that want to integrate their brand into that experience in a compelling way,? he said.

Parade is a newspaper magazine that is distributed in more than 600 newspapers and 500 newspaper Web sites. The publication claims to have a circulation of 33 million readers.

Celeb scoop
The app is available for free download in Apple?s App Store.

Users can browse entertainment-themed articles and content via the app.

Additionally, users can take short daily quizzes that encourage users to come back daily to keep up on entertainment news.

The app lets users filter content into four main categories ? interviews, photos, news and a section dedicated to articles from Parade's Walter Scott column, which is a question-and-answer entertainment column from the magazine?s print edition and Web site.

For each news article, users can view the copy in two sizes and share content via Facebook, Twitter and email.

The Parade app is sponsored and runs on Zumobi?s ad network. Current advertisers include Dwell magazine, MSN and MSNBC with click-to-download banner ads for apps.

Zumobi uses its ad network to cross-promote its other mobile products. Because a good chunk of Zumobi?s apps are lifestyle-themed, promoting other apps that match the same demographic is a smart way for consumers to discover and download apps.

Mobile media
The Celebrity Parade app is an example of how publishers are narrowing down their content to fit specific niches of users.

By slimming down content to one specific type of news, Parade is able to latch onto its readers who have a specific interest in entertainment news.

Additionally, the app helps consumers wade through Parade's editorial content by only pulling out relevant articles and stories.

Publishers similar to Parade are rolling out similar apps geared at bringing editorial content to on-the-go readers with a smartphone-sized screen in mind.

For example, The Washington Post recently rolled out an Android app after already having iPhone and iPod touch apps in addition to a SMS program, showing the importance that a multiscreen strategy plays in mobile marketing and publishing (see story).

In addition, Parade's use of social media shows mobile is steadily making up a significant portion of social media usage.

?Zumobi has published many lifestyle-oriented mobile apps across multiple categories and there always seems to be strong user support for leading brands with high-quality content such as Parade,? Mr. Willner said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York