Santa Monica network Tastemade last month became one of the first media companies to sign a content deal with Facebook Inc., for which it will supply exclusive food-related shows The shows are for Anthology, the social media company’s new video-publishing service.
Facebook is not the only company to challenge Google Inc.’s YouTube as the premier destination to watch videos. Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Yahoo Inc. each have their own video platform, and now they are being joined by music-streaming service Spotify.
Again, Tastemade is at the forefront.
The company last week signed a deal to provide Spotify with additional exclusive video content, also about food, dining and cooking.
The pace at which new entrants are coming into the video-streaming market is surprising, said Steven Kydd, who co-founded Tastemade with Larry Fitzgibbon and Joe Perez in 2012.
“It’s happening faster than we imagined it would,” Kydd said.
The founding trio, who previously worked together at Santa Monica’s Demand Media Inc., closed a $25 million Series C funding round in June led by Scripps Networks Interactive, bringing its total capital raise to about $40 million.
Its shows are by a growing roster of international culinary talent and rake in hundreds of millions of views each month, according to Kydd.
Tastemade’s deal with Facebook calls for an entire slate of branded programming that utilizes Facebook’s trove of analytics about its users. For example, an idea for a show about late-night breakfasts came about after Facebook’s data team informed Tastemade that there are as many conversations about breakfast on the platform between midnight and 6 a.m. as there are about dinner.
“Facebook’s focus on real identity allows for rich creative development,” said Jay Holzer, Tastemade’s head of programming.
Included in the Facebook programming will be sponsored shows along the lines of those created by Tastemade for AT&T Inc., Hyundai Motor Co. and even Google.
Perez said he isn’t bothered by the fact that Facebook has yet to place ads on top of its videos or offer other monetization options. He’s sure that day will come.
“It’s an amazing platform that gets us global distribution,” he said. “Facebook represents a significant and growing percentage of our viewership.”
– Omar Shamout
