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Mr. Strompolos declined to disclose specifically how much
funding Fullscreen has taken on with this round, but people
familiar with the matter said it was in the ballpark of $30
million. All Things D had
reported in April that Fullscreen was closing a $30 million
round but only named The Chernin Group and Comcast Ventures as
investors, suggesting that WPP's stake is relatively small and in
line holding companies' typical minor strategic investments like
the
$5 million put into Buddy Media. WPP had previously invested in
addressable TV advertising company
Invidi and TV ad analytics firm
Ace Metrix.
For holding companies and the companies in which they invest,
those financial relationships can lead to closer business
arrangements -- like Buddy Media developing products specifically
for WPP's clients -- but Mr. Strompolos declined to discuss any
formal arrangements. "There's nothing to announce and definitely
nothing exclusive [with WPP]," he said. WPP executives were
unavailable for comment. Nonetheless WPP will have an early look at
Fullscreen's plans and conceivably be able to organize sponsorship
deals or other brand integrations with Fullscreen's content
creators. As part of the funding round, WPP SVP-corporate
development Lance Maerov will join Fullscreen's board, along with
Chernin Group president Jesse Jacobs and Comcast Ventures partner
Sam Landman.
Launched in January 2011, Los Angeles-based Fullscreen started
out as a network helping video creators including NBCUniversal and
Fox and brands such as McDonald's and General Electric manage more
than 10,000 Youtube channels that in aggregate notch 2.5 billion
video views each month and span more than 150 million subscribers.
While profitable in its current incarnation -- staffing 160
employees with additional offices in New York and Atlanta -- Mr.
Strompolos aims to solidify his company's position as a media
company, and that means a deeper investment in creating original
content.
"The focus on the network piece of the business has worked for
us and allowed us to build a profitable company, but great media
companies have to be producers and owners of great content," he
said.
Mr. Strompolos declined to say how many creators he plans to
work with in developing original shows or how many series, but
mentioned that Fullscreen has "done some of that experimentation
quietly behind the scenes. It will be a process we develop over
time, not a slate of 50 shows out the gate." He'll be looking to
existing partners like Ryan Seacrest Productions to help identify
new talent as well as Fullscreen's existing network of filmmakers,
he said. The company is already working with filmmaker Devin Super
Tramp, known for mashing up music videos and extreme stunts into
videos with titles like "Human Slingshot Slip and Slide,"
on an original program (working title "Stunters").
"We have the ability to mine data within the network to see
what's working, what the audience wants more of and invest greater
resources into developing the best formats, talent and
[intellectual property] not only for their value on YouTube but on
multiple platforms," Mr. Strompolos said.
Distributing Fullscreen's content elsewhere may seem to support
recent
calls by producers for an alternative to YouTube. Prior to
founding Fullscreen, he managed strategic partnerships at YouTube
and co-created the YouTube Partner Program. But he doesn't look at
it as getting content away from YouTube -- nor does he plan to do
so -- but instead finding other ways to distribute content and grow
audiences and revenues, such as through smartphone and tablet apps
and connected TVs.
"We
hired [as SVP-engineering] Timothy Mohn, the co-creator of HBO
Go, which gives a little indication of what we're planning for
Fullscreen," said Mr. Strompolos.
