New York — Attempting to keep pace with the emerging industry trends, AOL Inc., today announced an alliance with Ben Silverman’s digital studio Electus and Next New Networks to produce original daily video program that will be featured on its recently re-branded homepage AOL.com.
“The ONE,” which debuts today, is produced in association with award winning Next New Networks, is a two-minute appraisal from various contributors including bloggers, journalists, and comedians who share their thoughts on a variety of topics including politics, lifestyle, entertainment and culture, is intended to be AOL’s “signature franchise,” which caters to daily domestic audience of 15 million Americans.
“The One” includes more engaging video experiences and daypart scheduling and joins the series, “You’ve Got,” an open mic for the web that has already included spots from Kelly Ripa, Ellen DeGeneres, President Barack Obama, and — on November 8th — Governor Mike Huckabee.
The show was produced and directed by series co-creator and Next New Networks’ Vice President Kathleen Grace (creator of hit indie Web sitcom “The Burg” and Vuguru’s “The All-for-Nots” for Michael Eisner), who is also directing the series, and Next New Co-founder Timothy Shey.
Other new episodes will be featured daily on AOL.com, among those appear in early episodes include “The Onion” Digital Director Baratunde Thurston; Chief White House Correspondent of PoliticsDaily.com Alexandra Wagner, Comedian, Blogger Gabe Liedman, and “Auto-Tune the News” The Gregory Brothers.
“The ONE is all about cutting through the thousands of stories presented to you daily — on the web, on TV, in your friends’ Facebook and Twitter feeds — and giving you a valuable perspective on the one story that really matters,” said Next New Networks Co-Founder Timothy Shey.
The association with digital studios is part of AOL’s strategy to create more more captivating video experiences and daypart programming for its 15 million daily visitors. “Video is a fundamental part of the online experience for AOL’s media savvy audience and we are delighted to partner with Next New Networks, whose creativity and innovation in made-for-web video make them a leader in this space,” said David Eun, President of AOL Media and Studios.
“With more than 15 million distinctive U.S. visitors daily, AOL has one of the largest and most loyal audiences on the web, and we are really thrilled for such an amazing platform to start a conversation with all of those viewers on ‘The One.’”
Watch more The One videos on AOL Video