YouTube Network Pushes Play on Advertising Unit

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Maker Studios had a busy summer, securing a new round of financing and acquiring video streaming site Blip.

Just in case all the activity seemed like a seasonal spike, the Culver City YouTube network has continued to hustle by recently launching an in-house advertising service.

Dubbed Maker Made, it will work directly with advertisers to create branded videos, many to be distributed on the company’s widely subscribed YouTube channel. The idea is to use Maker Studios’ bench of talent as advertising creatives to produce branded content. Officially, the Maker Made team will be five people, but the company explained in a release that clients will have access to the channel’s writers, directors and “network of over 60,000 content creators.”

Maker Studios has dabbled in this concept before: Last year, channel star Mike Tompkins created a music video featuring Maker talent and others covering Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” to promote the film “Pitch Perfect.” It has more than 7 million views.

This type of entertainment-focused advertising fits into the broader category of native advertising, in which marketing material is designed to reflect the look and feel of the host site. It’s an approach that has gained traction online, as sites such as Buzzfeed, which is reportedly on track to be profitable this year, have built up advertising products on the backs of editorial talent.

Unlike Buzzfeed, which traffics mostly in articles and images, Maker is strictly into online video. That field has seen big growth in the past few years – not to mention investor interest, evidenced by Maker’s recent $26 million raise. But online advertising rates have yet to near the levels for television, keeping companies such as Maker in search of a solution.

Spoiler Alert

As social media continues to serve as the de facto platform where people chat about live TV events, a problem has cropped up: avoiding spoilers. Josh Solt and Matthew Loew have developed an app that attempts to solve that problem, letting people safely browse Twitter or Facebook even if they’ve yet to see their favorite show’s most recent episode or favorite team’s latest game.

Spoiler Shield, an app for Apple devices, filters out tweets related to whatever TV show or sports score you’d rather not see discussed. Users log in with a Twitter or Facebook account then select which items should be expurgated from their respective feeds. Once chosen, any info that mentions the verboten material is blacked out, leaving the reader safe to browse without an East Coaster blurting the results of, say, “The Voice.” Right now, the app is designed to work with more than 30 TV shows and pro baseball and football teams.

Loew and Solt were inspired to make Spoiler Shield after watching “The Rains of Castamere” episode of HBO series “Game of Thrones.” For some, the episode’s violent ending (referred to as the Red Wedding) was ruined by Twitter users long before the entire world had a chance to watch. This so-called “spoiler problem” became a much debated moment in social media.

(It’s worth noting that in its current version, Spoiler Shield will not work on people who have already read the “Game of Thrones” books and reveal important plot points in person.)

Loew and Solt, who both come from the tech and media industries, plan on expanding Spoiler Shield to include awards shows and sporting events such as the Olympics. To that end, they said that they raised a seed funding round “in the six figures,” mostly from friends and family.

“As social media changes so will the social media world,” Solt said. “We want to be at the forefront of spoiler protection.”

Specific as this app is, there is some competition from big names; Netflix Inc. recently released similar app Spoiler Foiler in conjunction with the final season of “Breaking Bad.”

Of course, the alternative to all these apps would be to avoid social media altogether until you’ve caught up. That’s hard, though. Plus, why be abstinent when they’re funding contraception?

Campus Expansion

Ronen Olshansky and Dan Dato, co-founders of Cross Campus, are moving their Santa Monica co-working space to a new location around the corner.

The new digs are at 10th Street and Colorado Avenue in the former home of an architectural firm and should accommodate the company’s growing clientele. Cross Campus is set to be fully moved in by early next year, not long before the opening of the western section of the Expo line, which runs nearby.

Olshansky said Cross Campus isn’t overbooked at the moment, “but we’re getting there. It’s part of the reason we’re moving.”

The other idea with the new spot is to encourage more startups to stay long term; there are plans to open up some additional private office space in an attached building.

Companies traditionally start in a co-working space at their earliest stages, then move into their own space after funding and expansion. Dato and Olshanksy envision the new Cross Campus space being able to accommodate a company of up to 20 people.

Staff reporter Tom Dotan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.