AT&T and Fullscreen Announce Yearlong Mobile Video Project
With Verizon having launched Go90 and AT&T now the owner of DirecTV, it seems natural that the communications giant would make a play for the mobile video space. Rather than creating its own mobile network, however, AT&T announced that it's working with the multi-channel network (MCN) Fullscreen to create Hello Lab, a yearlong project that will create a variety of mobile video experiences from online stars.
Hello Lab will work with popular video creators that include Grace Helbig, Damon and Jo, Shaun McBride, and Collins Key, calling them Hello Labs ambassadors. Hello Lab will announce additional names later, for a total of ten.
What makes Hello Lab unusual is that it's not built around a central destination where viewers can see all the project's work. Instead, videos will appear on the ambassadors' existing channels. The project is aimed at younger viewers, and will reach out to them in multiple ways including social networking sites.
Hello Lab content will be "innovative dream projects," AT&T says, released throughout the year. The first project has already begun: "Dare to Travel" by Damon and Jo is a travel series where fans determine travel-related challenges for the hosts. It's available on YouTube, with new episodes appearing weekly, with interactive challenges appearing on Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
Besides being aimed at mobile viewers, Hello Lab content will be shot and edited on phones.
AT&T is a part owner of Fullscreen, since Otter Media (owned by AT&T and the Chernin Group), bought a majority stake in Fullscreen in September 2014. AT&T and Fullscreen have collaborated on other video projects prior to this.
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