Verizon buys AwesomenessTV stake, announces mobile video service
LOS ANGELES -- Verizon and AwesomenessTV are teaming up to create a premium short-form mobile video service available through go90.
The news came on the same day the telecommunications giant said it is acquiring a 24.5% stake in AwesomenessTV, bringing the value of the digital entertainment company to a whopping $650 million.
"This is part of a bigger strategy that’s been coming together where Verizon is hoping to diversify content and its distribution portfolio," Brian Angiolet, SVP of consumer product and marketing for Verizon, told Mashable. "We had a good relationship with Awesomeness already. We believe in the team there and their ability to drive audience and make amazing content."
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Research firm eMarketer estimates U.S. adults will spend an average of 3 hours and 8 minutes per day on mobile devices, excluding voice activities. The firm's research suggests Millennials are also the most active video viewers of any U.S. age group.
Already, Verizon has been strategic in partnering up with digital entertainment players such as StyleHaul, pop culture network DanceOn and Disney-owned Maker Studios. AwesomenessTV has provided go90 with shows such as Guidance and Top Five Live, as well as content from AwesomenessTV's millennial mom network Awestruck.
That gave the free on-demand video service access to everything from Star Wars inspired series from Maker creators to Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jennifer "JWoww" new show Moms With Attitude. Even Ben Affleck and Matt Damon cross-country-chase reality competition series The Runner will debut on the mobile platform.
Now, AwesomenessTV will help Verizon go beyond its free, ad-supported service.
"The thing that’s equally exciting to us is opportunity to develop more of a premium content offering that we’d make available through go90, and that a AwesomenessTV team will lead in building," Angiolet said. "We will be expanding distribution of that web based destination and expanding the business model capability within go90."
According to the news release, the service will "operate as a new and independent brand, and feature premium transactional content for a variety of audiences on par with the highest-end content seen on television today."
AwesomenessTV — founded by TV veteran Brian Robbins — now has over 90,000 channels and is home to talent management company Big Frame, DreamWorksTV, Awestruck (a network for millennial moms) and Awesomeness Films.
For Robbins, the deal with Verizon was a logical next step in the evolution of the Los Angeles-based digital entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation and Hearst, the latter of which has a 25% interest.
"The opportunity to be the first mover in creating super premium short form content made exclusively for mobile, and to do it at this type of scale with this type of partner ... I can’t tell you how excited we are about the possibilities," Robbins told Mashable.
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Topics Verizon
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
