While Facebook has been getting attention recently as the next wave of social TV, Mark Burnett and Youtoo might have just ignited the first “age” of social TV. They’re launching an actual social TV network which aims to reach a national audience of 15 million by “putting 500 people on TV each day – providing more Americans than ever before with a real shot at their 15 minutes of fame,’” according to their release. Mark Burnett’s company will be curating the content.
Burnett is no stranger to social TV. The team behind the wildly-successful The Voice spoke happily about Burnett’s passion for the social web. Now his production studio VIMBY (Video in My BackYard) and online distributor KoldCast TV have teamed up with entrepreneur Chris Wyatt to launch Youtoo.
VIMBY will be producing content for the network asking users to submit video “FameSpots” or “Social Shouts” via the web, iPhone, iPad or Android to insert themselves into the content. Watch Burnett’s video (below) where he describes social TV as the “next generation of TV,” and claims that Youtoo is “the next big thing,” and after an in-depth interview with CEO and founder Chris Wyatt.
In 1997, Chris left a successful career in Hollywood as a network television producer and show runner to find the intersection of television and the internet. He was hired away from Hollywood by Softbank to be part of the team that launched the world’s first social network, Communites.com. He founded Big Jump Media and provided social networking sites to corporations on a private-label license basis. Big Jump Media culminated with Chris’ launch of GodTube as the fastest growing website of 2007 on launch. He drove the company to a $180M valuation and exited before he was able to purchase a cable network. Youtoo is financed through a series of institutional funds, secured debt and high-net worth individuals. In total the company has about 40 full-time employees with 30 FTEs (full-time equivalents.)
Lost Remote: What is youtoo, how does it work?
Chris Wyatt: Youtoo is the world’s first social TV network. Since millions of people want to be on TV, we created a website and app for that. Youtoo is a social network, television network, and the technology to make them all work together. Just like a social network, you can interact with your friends or followers. However, you can also interact with a national audience on TV. Think of it as Facebook for TV in concept.
The key to Youtoo is our patent-pending software and cross-platform technology stack. The technology allows you to record a HD broadcast quality video (we call a FameSpot) from virtually anywhere using Youtoo.com or on the Youtoo app. Our software transports it to our data center where it is automatically scanned for inappropriate content and filtered by our broadcast standards.
Then, if the FameSpot is chosen, our software automatically inserts it into the live broadcast feed without the need for an edit bay or any human interaction. Viewers can be on TV in about three minutes including the transport, filtering and automated insertion. Naturally, we can perform the same automated broadcast in-real time if the source is trusted.
LR: How is Burnett involved? How did he get involved?
CW: Mark Burnett through his company, VIMBY Video In My Back Yard, produced 250 short programs that feature hosts Miss USA Shandi Finnessey, American Idol Extra’s Host Mikalah Gordon, and actor Brian Kimmet, along with co-host Dean Haglund, best known for his role on The X Files. VIMBY shot a high-tech Youtoo branded designed to help establish the YouToo TV brand identity. It’s a wonderful relationship that’s growing.
LR: When did Youtoo launch? Any TV partners?
CW: Launched September 27th in Beta and the site is live. We have distribution with most every cable company in the US: Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter, Verizon, Service Electric, Bright House, National Cable Television Cooperative, Insight Cable., etc. and we’re launching new systems daily. Currently we’re nationwide in 15M households and growing.
LR: How will it change social tv? No one else puts you on television. It’s the only Social TV service that allows you to interact with the most influential screen, the television. All other social TV companies are cursorily positioned behind the second and third screens. We had to purchase two television cable networks to deconstruct the backend infrastructure to create our proprietary, patent-pending interface that seamlessly allows our HD video and social networking tools to be automated into broadcast.
Naturally, no network or broadcaster would allow any company to develop this technology using their infrastructure. So we spent three years and millions of dollars to develop a system that not only works on our network, but is designed to be licensed to other broadcasters around the world. Youtoo is more than social TV in today’s terms. It’s participatory television with a backend gaming system designed to create a 360-degree engagement loop on ALL three screens.
In addition to the standard fare of check-in services and the like, you’re going to see us rapidly launch ground-breaking products, features, services and interactive television programming over the next few months – both on our network and others.
LR: Anything else?
CW: Television has always been social. And technology has been used in creative ways to help broadcasters reach their social media audience through “Social TV.” However, there’s no current Social TV business model that we’re aware of that helps them monetize their efforts – outside of number of tweets, likes and social media buzz.
As an attendee at the Social TV Summit in Bel-Air a few months ago, the general consensus from both the networks and the social TV companies was that its too early in the game to drive meaningful revenues to the networks. That’s where we come it. We believe this disruptive technology will give networks and producers a whole new pallet of tools to produce interactive programs to engage viewers in a manner not before possible. And in the process drive revenues.
And that’s the exiting part. We’ve been approached by advertisers, other networks and companies that want to use Youtoo’s technology in unique ways that continue amaze us.
Will Youtoo’s patent-pending technology, that promises to scan for inappropriate content and then throw you into 30 million homes by the end of the year revolutionize TV? Let us know what you think.
