MTV pairing IFilm with Spike
Site will be online home for channel's shows
|
More Articles:
Most Viewed:
Anderson working on 'Master'(5545 views)Sundance unveils competition lineup(5398 views)Comcast, GE unveil NBC U deal(3325 views)NBR's best: 'Up in the Air'(3253 views)Sundance unveils complete lineup(2946 views)Johnny Depp eyes Pancho Villa role(1900 views) |
Site will be the online home for Spike's TV shows and also feature user-generated videos and original Web content aimed at males 18-34 -- the same demo Spike targets on-air.
Move significantly ups the digital media presence of Spike, whose own Web site is relatively small. It also gives a specific identity to IFilm, which in the past year has offered a broad array of viral videos, as well as episodes of shows from all of the MTV networks.
"The notion of putting up everything from MTV spread the demo too wide," said Erik Flanagan, senior VP of digital media for the MTVN Entertainment Group, who will oversee the newly combined venture. "As we looked at what has worked and what hasn't on IFilm, we saw that the guy-centric stuff was getting the most traction."
MTV doesn't yet have a name for the site as it will be once fully aligned with Spike, though it's expected to carry some of the network's branding.
It will compete directly with other Web sites that target young men, such as CollegeHumor.com and Break.com.
Move comes as MTV Nets parent Viacom is in the midst of a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google and YouTube. Now that it has taken down all its clips from the No. 1 video site, MTV is focusing heavily on improving its own Web presence.
Blair Harrison, longtime CEO of IFilm, is ankling as a result of the shift. Since joining the company in 2001, he helped lead it out of the dot-com bust and through its 2005 acquisition by MTV Nets for $49 million.
