Menlo Park, CA June 26, 2014— Personalized video news app Watchup, announces the launch of its premium initiative. The initiative aims partner with established news channels to include their video content in Watchup’s personal newscast apps. “Historically, we’ve curated a selection of news channels from YouTube and Dailymotion. But many channels our users want are not available there. That’s why we now are partnering with some of the finest news sources to include them in our personalized video news experience,” said co-founder and CEO Adriano Farano, a former Knight Fellow at Stanford University.
The premium initiative’s founding members include:
- Euronews
- Fox News
- Fox Business
- Sky News
- TheStreet
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Washington Post
“Video is a top priority for TheStreet and our audience, and we are excited to part of Watchup’s effort to innovate the ways in which such news is consumed,” said James R Freiman, Senior Vice President of Business Development & Strategy at TheStreet. “Digital video is booming and Watchup has the potential to become the category-defining product for multi-channel news watching.”
TheStreet has ramped up video production over the past year and currently offers viewers over 100 videos each week including business and financial news updates, interviews and in-depth market analysis. Videos are available via nine different topic channels and are designed to educate and inform personal and institutional investors worldwide.
Watchup reinvents news watching for the digital omnivore: viewers who primarily consume content seamlessly across tablet and mobile devices. According to the Pew Research “State of News Media 2014” report, over a third of U.S. adults regularly watch digital news videos. Video technology company, Ooyala reports mobile video viewing has grown 512 percent since 2012 in it’s 2014 Q1 Global Online Video Index.
“For the next 3 months we’ll work to bring even more premium content to our users,” said Farano. “Our goal is to create an ecosystem that can sustain and provide long-term benefits to our partners, so they can focus on producing the stories that matter and continue pioneering great journalism that advances the field.”
Watchup’s iOS app is featured among the best news apps in the Apple App Store and is one of the first 30 glassware available on Google Glass. The company received seed investment from Microsoft Ventures, Turner Broadcasting, the Stanford-StartX Fund, Knight Foundation and news veterans including the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Gordon Crovitz and Campus Televideo founder Ned Lamont.
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About Watchup
Watchup’s vision is to bring the power of video journalism to every emerging screen. Featured by Apple, Watchup allows users to enjoy their personal newscast based on high quality news videos that play continuously. During a ceremony at the MIT Media Lab, Watchup received a coveted Knight News Challenge Award and was the only company to be a finalist simultaneously at SXSW’s Interactive Awards and Accelerator competition in 2013. For further information please contact Lauren Jones at Lauren@watchup.com or 213-399-5242
About TheStreet, Inc.
TheStreet, Inc. (www.t.st) is the leading independent digital financial media company providing business and financial news, investing ideas and analysis to personal and institutional investors worldwide. The Company's portfolio of business and personal finance brands includes: TheStreet, RealMoney, RealMoney Pro, Stockpickr, Action Alerts PLUS, Options Profits, MainStreet and RateWatch. To learn more, visit www.thestreet.com. The Deal, the Company's institutional business, provides intraday coverage of mergers and acquisitions and all other changes in corporate control. To learn more, visit www.thedeal.com. For further information please contact Emily Scheer at 212.321.5521 or Emily.Scheer@thestreet.com
