Endemol Is Launching Its Own Hub for Videos by Stars Like Michelle Phan

Endemol Beyond USA is looking to have greater control of its popular content, which averages 1.8 billion monthly views on YouTube alone. The digital-content arm of Endemol Shine North America today unveiled GetBeyond.US, a website that will house all of its videos. Endemol Beyond already distributes its shows across a variety of third-party platforms such as YouTube, Roku, TiVo, DailyMotion, Amazon Fire TV and Vessel. But now it will distribute its content on its own platform. Aside from greater control of its creative work and distribution, the new venture means Endemol won't have to split ad revenue with third-party platforms such as YouTube, which has plagued multichannel networks in their quest to become more profitable. In making its videos available directly to consumers on its own platform, Endemol could siphon away viewers from YouTube as the latter prepares to launch its own subscription service. GetBeyond.US also allows Endemol to establish itself as a standalone brand in the fast-growing over-the-top space (content that is delivered over the Internet without the need for a satellite or cable subscription), just as Verizon is preparing to unveil its Go90 mobile streaming service, which already has multichannel networks like Vice and Machinima on board. Comcast is also working on its own online video service, Watchable, which is expected to launch toward the end of this year. Cutting out the middleman Premium TV networks HBO and Showtime have also gone directly to consumers with subscription products this year. At some point, Endemol Beyond USA would consider launching a subscription service of its own, reports Variety. GetBeyond.US is being developed in partnership with Piksel, an online-video consulting and managed services firm. Using Piksel's analytics capabilities, Endemol says it will be able to continuously monitor and tailor the user experience, dramatically increasing personalization in the way videos are delivered. Along with housing content from its roster of talent such as Pitbull, Jessica Sanchez, Drea de Matteo, Andy Milonakis and Brittany Furlan, the hub will operate Endemol's premium networks. Those include Michelle Phan's Icon network and the upcoming pop-culture centric Looksy, and gamer-focused Smasher, which has partnered with Pizza Hut for its debut series, Legends of Gaming. "On top of our wide distribution and reach across YouTube, Facebook and other partners, Piksel helps drive our business forward from a unified platform while also syndicating our content," said Endemol Beyond USA's interim president and COO Adrian Sexton, who took over following Will Keenan's departure last month. "With the roll-out of our premium networks—Icon and upcoming Smasher and Looksy networks—GetBeyond.US streamlines our consumer experience with strong branding, promotion and distribution."

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Endemol Is Launching Its Own Hub for Videos by Stars Like Michelle Phan

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Tim Baysinger

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