Viacom Digital Studios was unveiled this week at its first Digital Content NewFronts. It’s the latest in a series of “really big investments” by Viacom that include WhoSay in the influencer marketing space and the VidCon talent and fan event.
“What we really want people to walk away with is that Viacom has amazing capabilities,” Viacom Digital Studios President Kelly Day says in this interview with Beet.TV at the Digital Content NewFronts 2018.
Viacom Digital Studios says it will deliver hundreds of hours of premium, original content with Viacom stars and digital-native talent from BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon across leading social and online video platforms. Viacom’s properties comprise a social footprint of more than 850 million fans, according to a release announcing Viacom Digital Studios.
“We have these really iconic brands that we’re now putting the full weight of Viacom’s resources and investing in a digital strategy that can essentially re-express these brands for a social and mobile first consumer,” Day says.
Viacom also announced that it will be producing new shows for such platforms as YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook to be “everywhere the audience is.” Its strategy is to “craft really fantastic stories that are designed for the social- and mobile-first audience.”
Late in 2017, Viacom acquired WhoSay, a leader in influencer marketing with which Viacom had worked for two years. In February 2017, Viacom bought VidCon, the largest talent and fan event in the world, as Variety reports.
Viacom Digital Studios creates custom content as short as 30 seconds to entire series for pre-roll mid-roll video on social platforms, where it has “billions of impressions” every month, Day says.
“We’re seeing tremendous engagement from the audience across the board in these digital platforms. I think it’s really imperative that buyers be where these audiences are and where they’re spending an enormous amount of time.”
This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the Digital Content NewFronts 2018. The series a co-presentation of Beet.TV and the IAB. Please see additional videos from the series on this page.
