Genius Hires Head Of TV And Film, Signaling Push Into Long-Form Programming

Yet another media company is making a stated leap into long-form content.

Genius — a website that allows people to furnish annotations and interpretations of song lyrics — has tapped former Discovery Science Channel executive Joshua Asen to serve as its first head of TV and film.

The hire signals Genius’ push into long-form video, reports The Hollywood Reporter, with a focus on projects that provide a behind-the-scenes look at the music-making process. To that end, Genius already creates several popular short-form digital series including Verified, in which artists explain the meaning of their own lyrics, The Cosign, in which artists react to other musicians, and Deconstructed, in which artists describe the creation process behind their songs. The company’s YouTube channel counts.5.8 million subscribers.

“We’re building on the momentum Genius has established with our digital series like Verified and Deconstructed to tell bigger stories about artists and how music pushes culture forward,” Genius’ chief strategy officer Ben Gross — to whom Asen will report, based in Brooklyn — told the Reporter.

At Discovery Science Channel, Asen served as director of development and production, working on series like BattleBots and Mythbusters Jr.

Rap Genius was founded in 2009 to deconstruct rap lyrics, though the company subsequently axed the word ‘Rap’ from its moniker as it moved to incorporate other genres. The Reporter reports that the company’s collective properties have amassed an audience of 100 million fans. The company’s has received venture capital from the likes of Eminem, Nas, and Pharrell Williams.