Machinima is one of the top channels on YouTube, featuring a combination of trailers, original works and fan-generated films on game franchises large and small. They’re going to be at the tip of the spear for YouTube’s forthcoming premium-content strategy, where they partner with the best companies using the service and leverage their channels.
“Because of their consistent traffic they can offer advertisers a very unique package,” said Kenji Arai, strategic partnership development manager at YouTube. “Hopefully we will create other standout partners like Machinima in other categories as well. It’ll take a combination of both companies that combines a comfortable niche and a part that really engages on the YouTube platform like Machinima does.”
Machinima also has impressive numbers to back up their claims. They saw 67 million unique viewers in March, the Dead Rising 2 original series Bite Me has seen 13 million views since premiering last December and Mortal Kombat: Legacy produced over 5 million viewers in its first five days of release.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy helped make Machinima a top 10 trending search for Google, becoming the fourth most discussed video that day on YouTube and clocking over 15 million views since its April. “People are not only watching these videos, they’re also embedding, ranking and replying to them,” said Machinima Chairman-CEO Allen DeBevoise.
“Media companies can be and are being built in nontraditional ways. At what point does Machinima rival, equal or surpass a cable network ” said Tim Hanlon, CEO of Velociter, the strategic partnership and investment arm of Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands. “These gigantic numbers suggest their distribution model is just beginning.”
Machinima has caught the attention of brands like Jeep Compass, Walmart, Dell’s Alienware, Cinemax, Panasonic’s Viera 3-D TV and movie studios like Sony Pictures and Universal Pictures, though they aren’t looking to go the traditional cable TV route. “We think we get to TV through all the devices out there. A lot of people already watch our videos on their connected TV sets,” said DeBevoise. “We’d like to be able to say to TV people, ‘What if we do a pilot or a first-season series with you guys ‘ We’re not ready for that yet, but it’s an interesting opportunity to eliminate that moment of risk when you have a $5 million pilot and five days to make it work.”
Source: AdAge
