First Season of Popular Machinima Series Garnered Over 14 Million Views
Series Will Also Air on FEARnet Cable Network
SANTA MONICA, Calif. and LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3, 2012 /CNW/ - Machinima, the number one video entertainment brand for gamers around the world, and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading diversified global entertainment company, have partnered to renew Machinima's original zombie apocalypse comedy series "Bite Me." It was announced today by Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and CEO of Machinima, and Lionsgate's Curt Marvis, who orchestrated the Company's partnership with Machinima and is overseeing the series for Lionsgate.
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On March 6th, the second season of "Bite Me" will premiere on the Machinima Network online (YouTube.com/Machinima) and on FEARnet, the premium cable network for horror, thriller and suspense, backed by Lionsgate, Sony and Comcast.
""Bite Me" is yet another example of the type of premium content that we know resonates with our global audience of highly engaged and influential young males," said DeBevoise. "We're thrilled to partner with Lionsgate on the second season and look forward to expanding this into a global franchise."
"Lionsgate is committed to creating and delivering original content that bridges the gap between traditional and digital screens," said Marvis. ""Bite Me" is a perfect example of our win/win approach to traditional and digital platforms, launching both on Machinima and FEARnet. Machinima is a dynamic and innovative company that is helping to change the face of the Internet, and they share our entrepreneurial culture and game-changing vision. We will continue to explore these types of synergistic partnerships in the future."
FEARnet will be the exclusive TV home for "Bite Me." In addition to premiere windows, the series will be expanded for FEARnet with extended episodes, behind the scenes content and special presentation movie length versions of the show. The cable outlet will also offer sneak previews of upcoming episodes prior to their appearance on YouTube.
"This series is a perfect fit for FEARnet," said FEARnet President Peter Block. "FEARnet and Machinima share similar audiences and this is a great opportunity to promote the FEARnet brand on Machinima and vice versa. Additionally, by enabling our audience to watch "Bite Me" in both series format and as feature-length movies on the FEARnet channel and on demand, we believe that we can further expand the tremendous reach and awareness that Machinima has already generated for the show."
The first season of the "Bite Me" web series drew over 14 million views and had an average of well over 1.4 million monthly unique viewers per episode.