Print Media
04/09/07
Break.com, Endemol to Launch Record Breakers
Mike Shields
Break.com has signed a deal with the production company Endemol USA, which has created TV hits such as Deal or No Deal and Fear Factor, to launch a new series on the male-oriented video hub sometime this summer.
The new series, Record Breakers, will feature contestants competing to beat a series of silly or obscure world records. Thirty episodes of the Breakers have been ordered for the short-form Web-only, according to Break CEO Keith Richman.
Record Breakers marks the second major original content distribution deal inked by Break in a month. In March, the site announced a partnership with NBC Universal's digital studios unit to create the similarly titled Breakers, a Web series that will showcase beautiful women finding different ways to break various objects. According to executives from both companies, the viral video hub's growing size and its ability to deliver men 15-35 is making it more and more attractive as an outlet for original content.
"There really aren't any sites that can launch a property as widely to this target demographic," said Richman, who added that Break's audience has doubled over the past year, base on internal traffic numbers, to 16 million unique users. According to Richman, some individual clips that receive heavy promotion on the site regularly deliver 200,000 to 500,000 streams.
Those sorts of numbers are what attracted Endemol. "We are excited about the partnership with Break.com, as it now allows us to take some of our edgier formats directly to that hard to reach young male demo, as well as to create new original programming for their vast audience," said Jon Vlassopulos, vp digital media, Endemol USA. "This deal strengthens our commitment to establishing new partnerships with alternative distribution platforms and also allows us to work more closely with top brands and advertisers."
As of yet, no advertisers have signed onto Record Breakers, but Break is actively seeking sponsors, said Richman. The show will likely carry pre-roll video spots and banners, as well as potential product placement opportunities.
Richman said that the new deal with Endemol, along with the recently announced NBCU Pact, could eventually lead sites like Break--which generally thrive on the viral nature of online video--to create TV-like seasons. "With the Web, you will always have on-demand viewing. But we are trying to come up with series that users come back to again and again. We don't know if we are at the point of having seasonality yet but we may migrate to a scheduled environment."
