In a partnership announced Wednesday, BitTorrent will move some of its team into the Malibu office of Rapid Eye Studios. The two companies will partner to create original video content to be distributed on the BitTorrent Bundle platform, Mashable reported.
BitTorrent Originals, as the company is calling it, plans to debut roughly two serialized shows per year exclusively across the Bundle platform for 30 to 60 days. After that, the shows’ creators can distribute them through whatever platforms they like.
Each series will receive marketing support across the BitTorrent system, and the creators will take a 90-percent cut of the profits, which will come from both ads and ad-free paid downloads, Wired reported.
“In the last two years, we’ve become a trusted and valid channel for creators and publishers to reach a monthly global audience of 170 million fans directly," said BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker. "Expanding into the world of original content is a move that makes us a serious player in the media business, and takes us another step closer toward our goal: creating a sustainable digital future for creators of all kinds.”
BitTorrent Originals will focus on shows for 14- to 25-year-olds, criteria based on a study of its user base, which the company says is larger than Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu combined.
The first project, Children of the Machine, is set to launch in late 2015. More titles will be announced in the coming months.
The move follows that of other online companies, including Netflix and Amazon, which have found commercial and critical success. Amazon’s “Transparent” and Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” have been nominated for Golden Globes.
