Moving away from YouTube, Machinima adds Amazon, Sky to growing OTT offerings
With a host of layoffs following a $24 million funding round in 2015, Machinima, the video game focused digital network, seems to have set its sights on diversifying its revenue stream to include OTT providers like Amazon Video, rather than hedge its bets on YouTube. Machinima programming will now be available on Amazon Prime Video as an add-on subscription service, as well as on Sky Q, the ad-supported digital VOD service launched this year by Sky in the U.K.
Moving away from YouTube, Machinima adds Amazon, Sky to growing OTT offerings.
“These deals showcase the power and appeal of the Machinima brand and are important steps as we continue to expand our programming service to an increasingly significant number of digital video platforms, providing them with high quality, millennial-targeted video content for today’s mobile, social media world,” said Chad Gutstein, Machinima CEO, in a statement.
Machinima, backed by Warner Bros., was founded in 2000 and built its early business as one of the first YouTube multichannel networks, but has struggled over the last few years. The difficulty led to programming cuts, amongst other restructuring, eliminating series such as “Machinima Respawn” and “TenFTW” from their YouTube portfolio.
This isn’t the first time that Machinima has provided SVOD offerings. Last year, they launched on Sony’s PlayStation Vue service in the U.S., as well as several series that are exclusive to Verizon’s Go90, including the live-action “Street Fighter: Resurrection” and “Transformers: Combiner Wars.” Machinima has also recently partnered with AMC Networks International Iberia, to reach viewers in Spain and Portugal, as well as Sohu in China.
“Our relationships with Sky, Amazon Video, AMC, and Sohu represent the beginning stages of a global approach to partnering with platforms and programmers that have wide distribution and audiences with a voracious appetite for Machinima’s heroes, gaming and eSports programming,” Gutstein said.
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