Google Announces New Channels and Partners Ahead of NewFront
The inaugural newfront season comes to a close today, with Google and YouTube holding the final event this afternoon. Google has taken the unusual step of announcing its newfront news ahead of time.
While YouTube is already in the process of launching 100 creator-branded content channels, it has room for a few more. YouTube channel WIGS (which stands for "Where it gets spicy") will premiere May 14th, offering scripted dramatic series and documentaries targeted at women. The channel is created by filmmakers Jon Avnet (Black Swan) and Rodrigo Garcia (Albert Nobbs). Virginia Madsen, Stephen Moyer, Jennifer Beals, and Dakota Fanning will all appear in WIGS series.
Heading into the Olympics, YouTube has launched TeamUSA, created by the United States Olympic Committee. The channel will offer clips of 2012 athletes, instructions from Olympic coaches, and historic footage. AT&T has already signed on as the sponsor.
Tribeca Enterprises, which produces the Tribeca Film Festival, will launch a channel called The Picture Show this fall. Machinima will offer a live action series that leads into the events of Halo 4, also coming in the fall.
YouTube will host 25 hours of new original content each day by the end of July, the company notes.
YouTube is also releasing results from a recently completed study of online video viewing habits called Generation V. Among the findings are that men 18- to 34-years-old now watch more streaming video than live TV, and one-third of them visit YouTube multiple times per day.
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