VivaKi has been announced as the exclusive advertising partner of four new AOL Originals shows that will be available exclusively through the AOL On network in the UK and across AOL owned publishers and sites such as The Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch. The sponsored shows have been listed as the Emmy nominated “The Future Starts Here,” “Inspired,” “Win/Win” and “City Ballet” featuring Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker. “The Future Stars Here” is an ambitious exploration of “What it means to be human” in the 21st century, and stars filmmaker, speaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain. The first season of the show featured 8 episodes exploring everything from “Optimism” to “Robots,” and was a breakout hit for the AOL On Network, with over 20 million views and a 2014 Emmy nomination under its belt.
The sponsored shows have been listed as “The Future Starts Here,” “Inspired,” “Win/Win” and “City Ballet” featuring Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker
Graham Moysey, the head of international at AOL, believes there is “A real scarcity of premium digital content,” which is something they hope to rectify with the “AOL On Library,” which currently stocks over one million pieces of content. He adds that they chose VivaKi as sponsors because they recognise that “Original video and authentic story-telling is crucial to delivering brand messages to audiences,” and they “Look forward to working with them and their clients to reach consumers across all cross screens.” Chris Locke, VivaKi's managing director, agrees with his new partner, adding that whilst “The evolution of premium content across screens has until now, really been limited to the TV broadcasters,” he feels it has “Finally been expanded to the global digital giants.” He feels that “Beacon programming drives the most social conversations in TV and has the most light viewers,” and believes that “This is what will now happen in the VOD space too.”
The Future Starts Here – Episode 1 (Technology Shabbat)
AOL UK also announced yesterday two new shows, which are still available to advertising partners; “Being Mum,” starring famous mothers Tess Daly and Rochelle Humes, which will involve the pair discussing motherhood with other well-known mothers, and “30 Something,” a series in which former Big Breakfast host Richard Bacon tries to explain why “Getting into your 30s shouldn’t scare you.” Of Being Mum, Humes said the series will she herself and Daly “Go behind the scenes with a range of incredible mothers, with some faces you’ll know and some you won’t, but all with amazing stories to tell about being a modern day mother.” Bacon, meanwhile, said of his own series that he will be meeting “A range of extraordinary people in their 30s, people who have succeeded, sometimes against the odds, to create great brands, companies, trends, etcetera all while balancing new commitments such as being a parent.”
“AOL are committed to creating original premium content that resonates with consumers and advertisers.” Mark Melling
Other web series' launched on the network include a short-form reality series based on the tweets of socialite Nicole Richie and “Park Bench,” a series featuring Boardwalk Empire star Steve Buscemi having unscripted conversations with his friends and fellow New Yorkers. Mark Melling, AOL's director of video for the European region said that AOL are “Committed to creating original premium content that resonates with consumers and advertisers.” He said they have had fantastic success with their Originals series in the US, “With two Emmy nominations this year and one show picked up by VH1,” successes that will surely only increase as VOD services become more commonplace.
Official AOL Originals Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from the UK who watched 90% of his content digitally. He can't even remember the last time he switched over to BBC2!
