As the web video industry continues to mature, TV networks must begin to watch how these new entertainment platforms are innovating for consumers. We recently sat down with Kelly Day, the CEO of Blip. Previously Day was the EVP & General Manager of Digital Media and Commerce, at Discovery Communications. We learned about Blip’s plans for the future and how Day’s taking her experiences from traditional TV to pave the way for the future of short-form video entertainment.
Day described why she decided to leave the traditional TV world to begin with. “I got to the point where I started to get frustrated with state of television industry,” she told Lost Remote. She described how the unfortunate state of the TV industry is often, “content owners fighting with cable operators about things that frankly, even from a business perspective seemed ridiculous.” She added that, “there was no conversation about the consumer.”
Then enter Blip, “the place to discover the best in original web series, from professional and up-and-coming producers,” the platform that’s been around (and stayed around) since the early days of online video in 2005. Last month, Blip began a redesign of their homepage and apps (Xbox, Kindle, mobile, etc.), as the company delivers the “very fast growing demand, for short form video entertainment, not just pet tricks on digital devices,” as Day describes.
Blip continues to prove this demand by incorporating sponsors in unique ways to their productions. For example, The Gauntlet, is a show presented by Geico that they even premiered during prime time and continue to bring viewers back via live tweeting and more. Blip and their production partner Rooster Teeth Studios, “auditioned hundreds of people and found 19 serious gamers and superfans to compete for a $10,000 grand prize in an epic video game competition known as The Gauntlet.”
We asked Day how she thinks traditional TV networks are assessing Blip and the content they continue to launch and grow. “[Networks are] looking more and more at digital platforms as a source for talent,” Day told Lost Remote. Blip’s not competing with TV networks, they’re creating a whole new type of short-form entertainment built for four-screen consumers. Pay attention to Blip and how they might partner with TV in the future. Don’t forget, one of TV’s biggest acquisitions this year was when Discovery bought Revision3.