Dailymotion Gains Ground In U.S.; Enters Deal With RDF
- by Gavin O'Malley @mp_gavin, July 30, 2007
RDF USA is best known for producing prime-time reality shows like "Wife Swap" and most recently "Shaq's Big Challenge." Per the new non-exclusive first-look agreement, RDF will present Dailymotion with eight program concepts for short-form video programming over the next 12 months. The content, which could range from comedic to dramatic, will likely be heavily branded.
It's been a busy month for the Paris-based video-sharing hub, which just made its official U.S. debut with a tailored portal and a team of top media executives to lead the way.
Joy Marcus, former senior vice president of global marketing at Time Warner, is presently leading Dailymotion's U.S. expansion. Also new to the company is a specialized creative and programming team--including Danny Passman, formerly of MTV Networks and a development executive at fuse and VH1, and now Dailymotion's U.S. senior creative director.
Dailymotion.com already does particularly well with U.S. viewers--drawing more than 4.7 million video streams in April, according to comScore Video Metrix. The average video streamer at the site viewed more than 10 videos and nearly one hour of video content during the month. Also, 18- to-34-year-olds represented a significant 37% of Dailymotion's views, according to comScore.
Dailymotion recently worked with Jim Biederman on "The Great Sketch Comedy Showdown," and the Weinstein Co. on a contest for "The Ultimate Star Wars Fanboy (or Girl!)."
Dailymotion is not the first video-sharing startup to tap Hollywood for original content production. Rival Metacafe earlier this year launched a video confessions channel created by Hollywood producer Steven Bochco, which features short videos of twenty-something non-actors sharing highly personal experiences. In addition, Break.com recently entered into a similar first-look deal with NBC Universal Digital Studios.
The company's U.S. launch is being accompanied by standard monetization strategies, including contextual banner and in-stream video advertising.
Revenue-sharing agreements are available to media companies as well as to individual content creators through Dailymotion's MotionMaker program, which is designed to identify and reward popular video contributors.
