Vox Media has plans to bring one of its web video stars to television.

The digital publisher is in advanced talks with a cable entertainment network for a TV special next year starring Liz Plank, who joined Vox.com earlier this year to launch comedic election web series "2016ish," according to people familiar with the matter.

Vox Media, which owns sites such as Vox.com, the Verge, SB Nation and Eater, last year secured a secured a $200 million investment from NBCUniversal. However, the network that is in talks for Ms. Plank's program is not in the Comcast-owned TV giant's portfolio of cable channels, the people said.

Vox is on the hunt for an executive producer/showrunner to launch a digital series starring Ms. Plank, 29, who is a regular presence on MSNBC and previously worked at millennial-geared publisher Mic. While it's unclear just how linked the web series will be with the TV project, the showrunner will also lead creative development on a television pilot with a "major cable network," according to a job posting.

Vox is hoping that the digital series and TV special will build up more interest among TV networks for a permanent show hosted by Ms. Plank, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The move comes as more internet publishers, from Vice to BuzzFeed to Refinery29, link up with traditional media companies to push into television.

The yet-to-be-named digital show and TV special may experiment with different formats, but one person described the effort as a "feminist 'Chappelle's Show'" involving socially-conscious sketch comedy.

Ms. Plank's "2016ish" series has accumulated more than 77 million views on Facebook, according to Vox. On a recent episode, she and comedian Casey Jost don varsity jackets and joke about Donald Trump's "locker-room talk." After Mr. Trump called Hillary Clinton "a nasty woman" during the third presidential debate Wednesday night, Vox on Thursday posted a video where Ms. Plank stars in a black-and-white mock advertisement for "Nasty Woman" perfume.

"Because a woman's place is in the kitchen…of a restaurant that she independently owns and operates," Ms. Plank says in a voice-over. "Get what you want: maternity leave." (It is from the makers of Bad Hombre for men, the video says.)

"We find really talented folks and try to build a platform for them to do the best work possible, no matter what platform that's on," said Melissa Bell, publisher at Vox Media.

The company's TV ambitions are still in the early stages. In May, Vox announced a new show on A&E Networks-owned FYI called "Prefabulous" in collaboration with its real estate site, Curbed.

Since the investment, Vox and NBCU have teamed up on a joint advertising sales initiative called Concert, and reporters at the Verge and Recode, tech sites owned by Vox Media, make regular appearances on CNBC. Vox's SB Nation also created a blog focused on NBC's "American Ninja Warrior."

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 20, 2016 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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