Lauren Zalaznick: Meet The Exec Behind Bravo's Transformation Into A Power Network

Lauren Zalaznick: Meet The Exec Behind Bravo's Transformation Into A Power Network

Lauren Zalaznick, the woman behind the surging success of cable television's Bravo network is, in many ways, a model of the channel's viewers:

She is wealthy, well-educated and attentive to fashion, food and pop culture. At 44, she's inside Bravo's demographic of viewers from 18 to 49, and her opinions have considerable influence on the people around her.

She is, in short, an "affluencer" -- a gimmicky word Ms. Zalaznick said she made up, combining affluence and influence -- to describe Bravo's core audience.

"Who doesn't want to be that person with the cute boyfriend and the hot cellphone?" Ms. Zalaznick said in an interview in her spacious and eclectically decorated office at NBC headquarters in Manhattan. "You want to influence people, and you want to have money. It's like America."

Bravo is apparently speaking to more and more of America -- or at least an upscale, urban part of it, largely female and also including, Ms. Zalaznick acknowledged, a significant number of gay men.

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