CelebTV.com Premiers New Content Publishing System

Looking to enhance and expand current partnerships and form new ones in the fast-paced Web video race, entertainment destination CelebTV.com has chosen a new publishing system to get content and ads online quicker and more effectively.

The upstart TV Web site is banking on thePlatform’s system to help it more efficiently manage and publish content that it syndicates to larger Web video destinations, such as YouTube, Comcast.net, iTunes and AOL Video.

As they work on landing adequate advertising, many smaller Web video sites are relying on content syndication for the bulk of their revenue.

“As demand for our entertainment video news has grown, we needed a more flexible and scalable back-end system that could grow with us,” said Dana Golden, vice president and general manager of CelebTV.com. “Our content is increasingly viewed on leading websites around the world, and thePlatform gives us a simple and efficient means to publish and syndicate video to those sites.”

Since its launch in February 2007, CelebTV.com has quickly become a top destination for breaking celebrity news. Viewers have watched more than 350 million on-demand videos, which include 12 to14 two-minute segments offered each day, according to the company, which added that it uses close-up camera angles and enhanced graphics to maximize the viewing experience on a smaller screen.

“The secrets to success are great content and strong distribution,” said Golden, in a post-launch interview.

Perhaps the top reason for choosing the new thePlatform system is the fact that it’s already used by many of the larger sites that CelebTV.com provides content to, thus simplifying the management of the publishing of content and ads, along with management of both, by its partners. That means, in part, that CelebTV.com can take advantage of the integrations that the Platform has already forged with its Web site partners. This streamlines core processes fundamental to syndication of its content. Golden’s comments about a more scalable back-end system refer to stronger links to CelebTV.com’s own integrations.

It also will help CelebTV.com better manage its fast-expanding video assets by simplifying the logistics associated with creating, publishing and distributing its celebrity video content.

CelebTV has employed a lean operational model (which includes using interns to handle viral marketing) and a simple business plan to quickly achieve its success to date in an overcrowded market estimated to comprise roughly 1,500 video sharing sites. Like many Web competitors, CelebTV.com initially planned on advertising to provide the bulk of its revenue, but found limited interest and spending. Syndicating its focused content to bigger sites moved to the fore.

The site quickly hammered out a milestone deal with Comcast.net, which was pulling together its content assets to launch Fancast, a site that Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts called “the first, one-stop destination for entertainment content” in his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. 

The rapid increase in interest in entertainment news in general, and celebrity news specifically, last year greatly aided CelebTV.com’s evolution last year. “2007 was the year of the bimbo in Internet video,” quipped Shelly Palmer, managing director at Advanced Media Ventures Group, in reference to entertainment news.

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