Mobile, Music Powered HSN's Earnings: CEO
Special to CNBC.com
Shopping over the smartphone helped power HSN's first-quarter earnings, CEO Mindy Grossman told CNBC Wednesday.
The company, which runs a television shopping channel and companion websites, reported earnings of $26.2 million, or 44 cents a share, blowing by average analyst expectations of 37 cents a share.
"It's really been about growth across all our digital platforms," Grossman told Squawk on the Street. "Mobile has been a key driver. We did over 50 percent of all the mobile sales in 2011 just in the first quarter of 2012...It bodes well for the investments we made in that experience."
Music has also become a "critical part of our digital integration strategy," she said.
HSN recently kicked off a live concert series by working with singer Lionel Richie to promote his "Tuskegee" album. HSN's involvement included a "preshow" on Facebook and an hour-long live concert on its network in February. About 20,000 CDs were sold during that hour, said Grossman, who said the event gave the network high visibility.
Now HSN will be doing music quarterly, she said, with country singer Josh Turner, the next artist it plans to promote in May.
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