Disney and YouTube Partner to Produce Original Web Series Caleb Hamilton, November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 The Walt Disney Company and YouTube recently inked a multi-million dollar deal that seems to play on both company’s weaknesses. Disney is having trouble attracting young people looking for video content to their website, whereas YouTube is not “kid-friendly” in the eyes of some parents. Will this new deal work out for the two media companies?Disney Interactive Media and YouTube will spend a combined $10 million to $15 million on new, original web series. Disney plans to base the first series on its popular puzzle app Where’s My Water, featuring an alligator named Swampy. The videos will be distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney’s website and YouTube. Disney is currently prepping an overhaul of its website to correspond with the deal. This channel will also pull amateur video from content uploaded to YouTube on a daily basis.Disney Interactive co-president, James A. Pitaro had this to say about the new partnership:“It’s imperative to go where our audience is. [The idea is to] bring Disney’s legacy of storytelling to a new generation of families and Disney enthusiasts on the platforms they prefer.”Disney Interactive has been losing money over the last four quarters, so the pressure is on Mr. Pitaro to create videos that can be monetized quickly. YouTube also hopes to benefit from this venture by gaining credibility with parents, many of whom don’t like the fact that their children can be subjected to very inappropriate video content.“It’s an acknowledgment that we want to work with the best brands and, yes, we expect this partnership to attract new advertisers,” said Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head for content partnershipsMr. Kyncl emphasized that YouTube is solely acting as a distributor and has no plans to get into the production business. Disney will sell advertising inventory and give YouTube part of the revenue. In addition to original content and selected amateur video, Disney will also include video from its television shows.Mr. Pitaro told the New York Times that the Disney-YouTube deal “is a very nice first step. It shows that we’re not thinking small.” He also says that the Disney.com overhaul should be completed by fall 2012.Source: The New York Times Viral Marketing Viral Videos The Walt Disney CompanyViral videoYouTube
Kaiju From “Pacific Rim” Leaves Footprints on Qualcomm Stadium July 11, 2013July 11, 2013Pacific Rim opens this weekend, so you would expect the film to not have a presence at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con. However, Warner Bros. and Qualcomm have at least one trick up their sleeves. Check out how Pacific Rim plans to impact Comic-Con after the break. Read More
Zombify Yourself! September 10, 2009April 30, 2010How did we miss this? We’ve mentioned before the viral happenings surrounding the upcoming horror comedy Zombieland, most notably the clips of Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson explaining the 47 rules of Zombieland. Well, the folks behind the October film have also introduced a viral site that allows you to actually zombify… Read More
9: Save Your Talisman! + New Clip September 6, 2009There is a cool little addition to the 9 viral this morning. In an alternate approach to a time-capsule, you can go and save your talisman for the future, should anyone see it. The site takes your pictures and positions them together in a collage to make one picture of… Read More