WIRED OTT CHANNEL PREMIERES NEW SLATE OF EXCLUSIVE SERIES
Launch slate features more than 125 hours of programming including series from WIRED and BBC StudiosAs part of WIRED’s continued video expansion, Condé Nast today announced a new slate of original content for the WIRED OTT Channel. With an initial slate of more than 125 hours of new and expertly curated video content, the WIRED Channel includes the two original series, “[De]constructed” and “WIRED Masterminds”; two seasons of the BBC World News series “Click,” sold by BBC Studios; and exclusive content from WIRED25, WIRED’s 25th anniversary celebration in San Francisco from October 12–15. All 64 episodes of “Click” and the first episodes of the new WIRED video series are available on the Channel today.As WIRED celebrates 25 years, the brand is enjoying tremendous popularity across all platforms. In August, WIRED had its best month ever on YouTube and, in the past year, it has garnered 353 million video views on YouTube, up +93% versus the prior year. Across all platforms in the past year, WIRED had 1.2 billion video views, up +66% vs the prior year.*Nicholas Thompson, editor in chief, WIRED, said: “This has been a great year for WIRED, in no small part because of the way that WIRED video has grown. And its grown for the same reasons that our magazine and web readership has grown—because of a focus on quality and storytelling. OTT is a great platform for this kind of video, and it’s going to be an exciting part of our future.”The new series being produced and acquired for WIRED’s OTT Channel are tailor-made for WIRED’s plugged in and intellectually curious audience. In “[De]constructed,” WIRED takes apart and explains the hardware used to build popular vehicles and gadgets, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle and two watches, one with Swiss-made movement and another with Japanese-made movement. “WIRED Masterminds” shows experts as they demonstrate and explain key parts of their craft, including a CIA disguise master, members of the renowned shadow-art dance troupe “Pilobolus,” and a New York Times crossword puzzle constructor. WIRED will make available 64 episodes of the popular BBC tech and gadget series “Click” for the first time in North America. Exclusive content from the WIRED25 celebration in San Francisco will include behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the most influential names in technology, including Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Susan Wojcicki, Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, Fei-Fei Li, Kevin Systrom, and more.“WIRED’s audience of early adapters took quickly to our OTT app after it launched this summer, so this infusion of new content for the channel comes after a few months of us learning what our viewers crave for their at-home, lean-back video experience,” said Croi McNamara, senior vice president of video programming, Condé Nast Entertainment. “All of these new series offer our viewers an on-brand WIRED experience that touches on everything they are looking for from gaming and science to technology and innovation.”“‘Click’ is a unique series appealing to a wide range of audiences, from tech newbies to ubergeeks, making it a natural fit for WIRED and a brilliant way to start our relationship,” states Chris Cole, SVP TV Co-productions and Sales, Factual for BBC Studios – Americas.The WIRED OTT Channel launched in July and is now available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku platforms, which together account for approximately 80% of the OTT device market. The Channel has and will continue to feature the most popular content from WIRED’s YouTube channel and Wired.com, including episodes from “Autocomplete Interviews” (330.7 million lifetime views), “Tech Support” (77.1 million lifetime views) and “Almost Impossible” (16.6 million lifetime views).**The WIRED OTT Channel, which was announced at Condé Nast’s NewFront earlier this year and launched in July, gives advertisers the opportunity to reach connected audiences through ad placements or series integrations.
