Defy Media shone the spotlight on some of the 30 new series to join its roster of original programming at its Newfronts presentation Tuesday in Manhattan.
The slate is intended to invigorate the digital content powerhouse’s growing arsenal of brands, including AweMe, Smosh and Clevver. All together, Defy’s brands amass 800 million video views per month and 55 million unique visitors to its owned and operated websites, just two of the facts the company’s execs shared to tout its strength at the event, which was held at the SVA Theater.
Keith Richman, president of Defy, emphasized the importance of having 72 existing weekly series that will help support the new slate. During a week of presentations in which companies attempt to differentiate their offerings from TV, he cited the medium’s influence on Defy’s strategic bet on regularly scheduled content.
“Even in a world of on-demand programming, there is an element of success that comes with programming your content,” said Richman.
Smosh is introducing another sketch series, “These 5 People,” and bringing together two of its sub brands, Smosh Games and Smosh Cast, for “Smosh Summer Games 2: Camp.”
Defy is spinning off a series from an existing one, “Beauty Break,” for “Beauty Trippin’,” which takes hosts Joslyn Davis and Lily Marston on the road. The series is part of Defy’s Clevver, which is also launching celebrity parody series “Diss Track.”
AweMe is bringing in veteran actor Danny Trejo as host for its weapons-manufacturing series “Man At Arms,” and mixing the worlds of pets and cosplay for a new series, “PawsPlay.”
Other Defy brands include Made Man, Break and Screen Junkies.
Andy Tu, executive VP of marketing at Defy, touted the company’s in-house research arm, Acumen Insights, which recently collaborated with Variety to study content consumption on Snapchat. Acumen helps Seft and its partners keep up with the dizzying changes across a growing number of platforms where Defy places programming.
“We do run the risk of being out of touch or irrelevant, so we do what we can to do more,” said Tu.
