Stay here for the live stream of the press conference at blip.tv HQ in NY and live blog updates from the announcement with management firm The Collective. We’ll be updating this page throughout the announcement which begins at 10:30 AM ET today.
In a live press conference today in New York, online television network blip.tv announced a significant distribution partnership with entertainment management firm The Collective, which manages top web talent like Fred, iJustine, The Annoying Orange and Freddie Wong. As part of the deal, all of the The Collective’s client’s web series will distribute through blip.tv, including to their already popular channels on YouTube.
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Also expected out of the announcement today are two new original web series, funded by The Collective as part of their newly formed Digital Studio. The two new series, one from Fred star Lucas Cruikshank and the other from Freddie Wong and partner Brandon Laatsch, mark a significant investment in an online series.
UPDATES FORTHCOMING… (the following was typed live during the announcement, so ignore the grammar – we did)
One-minute video sizzle playing… 200 Million monthly views for The Collective’s digital clients like iJustine, Freddie Wong (freddiew), Fred, The Annoying Orange, Barats & Bereta, Megan & Liz…
And 1 billion views per quarter on blip.tv, with about 300 million per month.
…blip.tv CEO Mike Hudack introducing the announcement… “really excited to be distributing Fred”
….now The Collective CEO/Founder Michael Green speaking: “unlike any time in history, the power was now shifting towards the artists as opposed to the gatekeepers at the studios, networks and the like.”
“Anyone else here named Fred? Cause we’ll give them a show!” jokes Green. other notable clients at The Collective named: Martin Lawrence, Linkin Park, Emile Hirsch.
Announcing The Collective Digital Studio — allowing our creators to monetize their efforts and reach as a large an audience as possible. YouTube has been incredibly helpful and that’s not going to change, and the guys wouldn’t be there without it.
“We’re now partnering with blip so we can package our content in a unique way and create more value for our talent.”
Question from the audience – who is handling ad sales prior to this partnership and why is this better? Still handling in house at The Collective for branded deals, but now this will be additional not replacing those sales.
“We’re layering awesome on top of awesome,” said. Hudack about the YouTube focused talent working with blip.tv.
“For us, what we’ve always wanted to do is go huge, go big or go home” said Freddie Wong. Brandon Laatsch added “YouTube has allowed us to monetize the short film, and this allows us to increase those budgets and improve it greatly.”
“This is a pivot point in original web series I think” said Hudack calling the partnership a 360-degree solution for content creators.
Animated Fred web series announced by Dan Weinstein at The Collective, will live on blip.tv and YouTube. Also announced new larger budget web series for Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch.
Lucas Cruikshank said he is really excited to be doing animation now, working with the Thornberrys team. “Mine are about $5” joke Cruikshank answering a question about budgets from the audience. “But animation isn’t $5 or it would be really crappy,” he added, “though now we can do it because of this new partnership.”
UPDATE: official quotes now out from the press release:
“This partnership is one more step in the realization of our plans to provide creative talent with a 360-degree solution to build their brands in the digital space,” said Michael Green, CEO and founder of The Collective. “We’ve long viewed blip.tv as an ideal partner to bolster Collective Digital Studio’s existing production, social media and distribution expertise. This deal with blip.tv will provide our content creators with a whole new set of tools to understand and communicate directly with their audience and will offer additional capabilities for advertisers to engage with our clients’ audiences.”
“Collective Digital Studio has partnered with many of the most talented and influential online producers and personalities, and we are thrilled to partner with them to maximize opportunities for their clients with fans and with advertisers,” said Mike Hudack, CEO and founder of blip.tv. “This partnership with Collective Digital Studio is a validation of original web series and blip.tv’s role in the media industry as a whole.”
“I believe this exciting new platform will provide Fred fans around the world greater access to enjoy his videos, and I’m thrilled about the new Fred cartoons; as a content creator, it will be fun to have a fresh and growing audience for all of my digital projects and new ideas,” said Fred creator Lucas Cruikshank.
