VRV, Ellation’s SVOD aggregation service, is adding a set of titles from Warner Bros. Animation as well as content from Dust, a relatively new sci-fi-focused service.
New programing coming way of Warner Bros. Entertainment includes Freakazoid! and Road Rovers (added on May 11) and Dragon’s Lair (added May 14). Content from Dust, a sci-fi service from Gunpowder & Sky focused on short-form titles from emerging and established filmmakers, was added to VRV on May 16.
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With respect to the new animation titles, part of the aim is to add witty content (and “more adult than you might remember”) that works well with VRV’s audience, Gabriel VanHuss, head of programming at VRV, said.
The latest mix of additions also tie into a strategy that enables VRV to see how certain content connects with its audience while possibly opening the door for broader, channel-class offerings.
Out of the chute, that content will be offered on VRV Select, a curated house channel that VRV launched last year and is part of a $9.99 per month SVOD premium package that also bundles in several other individual services such as Crunchyroll, Funimation, CuriosityStream, DramaFever, Rooster Teeth and Shudder, among others.
Mixing in this new content on VRV Select marks an exploratory “first step” that will enable the service to see how VRV customers are engaging with it, how those titles interact with other content on the platform, and enable VRV to assess initial assumptions that this new content will hit it off with the VRV audience, explained Eric Berman, VRV’s head of business development.
If everything pans out in this incubation stage on VRV Select, it’s possible that VRV’s work with these partners could evolve into the building of new individual SVOD channels, he added.
VRV, which has more than 2 million registered users (the service hasn’t disclosed its paid base), is also using other distribution outlets to broaden exposure to the service.
A new example is Facebook Watch. VRV is making French animated series Dofus available on Facebook Watch starting today, with new episodes running on that platform on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through mid-September.
VRV has also worked with Twitch to highlight series and other content offered on the SVOD service.
