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Type of site | Video hosting service |
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Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Owner | Defy Media |
Created by | Raphael Raphael – Founder Rodger Raderman – Founder J. Patrick Forden – Co-Founder Luke McDonough – Co-Founder Kevin Wendle – Co-Founder |
Industry | Internet |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Not required |
Launched | 1997 |
Current status | Closed in 2008 |
iFilm is a discontinued U.S.-based video-sharing website on which users could upload, share and view videos. It was founded by filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997. It was later acquired by iFilm.net, a popular online interactive film and media archive, originally specializing in independent films. Ifilm.net was founded in 1998 by new media entrepreneurs Roger Raderman, J. Patrick Forden, and Luke McDonough. Percepticon Corporation engineered and built the website and content publishing system. Greg Deocampo, the founding CTO, developed the core engineering team, encoding network, presentation engine, and ad serving network. Its URL is now owned by Defy Media.
iFilm was founded in 1997 by filmmaker Raphael Raphael as a thinktank for artists and technicians about future directions of film. Raphael sold the domain to Rodger Raderman, founder of iFilm.net. The original intent of iFilm was to make short, independent films available online. It rejected home movies and pornography, but was open to all other film types. By August 1999, the site had over 450 movies, offices in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and employed 40+ people. Also during the summer of 1999, film editor Andrew Hindes and former sales and marketing head of Variety (magazine) Coco Jones joined the iFilm team. "If the consumer thinks about 'films', then we want them to come to iFilm as their first point of entry," said founder Rodger Raderman. "We see ourselves as the portal – the first stop on the web for all things film-related."
iFilm had many high-profile investors, such as Axiom Ventures, Inc., Eastman Kodak, Liberty Digital, Rainbow Media (Now AMC Networks), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vulcan Inc., and Yahoo!.
iFilm suffered serious losses in 2000 as a result of the dot-com bubble bust. It reorganized under CEO Kevin Wendel in 2001 and rebounded with a new focus on viral video. Prior to 2005, when YouTube was founded, iFilm was one of the primary destinations for viral videos on the internet.
On October 15, 2005, under CEO Blair Harrison iFilm was purchased by Viacom for $49 million, with the hopes of creating their own user-generated YouTube rival. [1] Instead, in December 2006, iFilm was bundled with MTV Networks' entertainment group. iFilm had a brief life with MTV Networks. On January 13, 2006, a television series presented as a collaboration between iFilm and VH1 entitled Web Junk 20 debuted on VH1. [2] The show was marginally popular, airing for 3 seasons.
Erik Flannigan, MTV Networks' VP of digital media, suggested that the core audience of iFilm, who were primarily young males, aligned perfectly with Viacom's Spike. During the first quarter of 2008, the two brands were merged. The iFilm brand was no more and re-branded and re-purposed as Spike.com. [3] The content of Spike.com was set to be composed of Spike programming, Comedy Central clips, GameTrailers and MTV videos. When Defy Media bought the URL from Viacom in 2014, it changed it so it redirects to Defy property Screen Junkies.
iFilm had many high-profile investors, such as Axiom Ventures, Inc., Eastman Kodak, Liberty Digital, Rainbow Media (now AMC Networks), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vulcan Inc., and Yahoo!.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog first became a "viral video" at iFilm. [4]
Viacom Inc. was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate with interests primarily in film and television. It was split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005 alongside the second CBS Corporation. The controlling shareholder of both companies was National Amusements, a theater company headed by businessman Sumner Redstone. The split was structured so that the original Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun out its cable and film interests as a new Viacom.
VH1 is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the BET Media Group subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group based in New York City. The network was originally owned by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment; a division of Warner Communications, and the original owner of then-sister channel MTV at the time. It was launched in the channel space of Turner Broadcasting System's short-lived Cable Music Channel.
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
Paramount Media Networks is the division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after the MTV cable network. It would be known under this name until 2011; when it would be thereafter known as Viacom Media Networks until 2019; and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks until 2022.
Thomas E. Freston is an American media proprietor, businessman, and financier.
TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows. The channel now airs a combination of recent and classic television series, original scripted series and limited theatrically released movies. The network is headquartered at One Astor Plaza in New York City. As of November 2023, TV Land is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 98,000,000 households.
VH1 MegaHits was a Latin American pay television music channel. It was owned by ViacomCBS Networks Brazil, subsidiary of ViacomCBS Networks Americas and aired music videos throughout its entire day.
GameTrailers (GT) was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released video games, as well as an array of original video content focusing on video games, including reviews, countdown shows, and other web series.
Leo Raderman is an American media and technology entrepreneur. As of 2006, he was co-founder, Chief Marketing and Product Officer of Veeker, co-founder and chairman of Obscura Digital, and Founder of IFILM.
Viacom International Inc. is the international division of the Paramount Media Networks subsidiary of Paramount Global that oversees the production, broadcasting and promotion of its brands outside of the United States. These brands include Paramount Network, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and BET, as well as CBS-branded channels co-owned with AMC Networks International. PIN also owned a 30% stake in the Rainbow S.p.A. animation studio in Italy from 2011 to 2023 and a stake in Viacom18, an Indian joint venture with domestic partner TV18, from 2007 to 2024.
MTV Classic is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as "VH1 Smooth", an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It was relaunched as "VH1 Classic Rock" in 1999, with an emphasis on classic rock. On August 1, 2016, in honor of MTV's 35th anniversary, the channel was rebranded as "MTV Classic", and now exclusively displays music videos from all genres from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
The videography of American recording artist Whitney Houston, nicknamed “The Voice”, consists of fifty-five music videos, four music video compilations, a concert tour video and three music video singles. In 1983, Houston signed a recording contract with Arista Records and two years later released her eponymous debut album. Houston's first music video was for the single "You Give Good Love", which was selected to establish her in the black marketplace first. Houston then released the video of her worldwide hit "Saving All My Love for You". The following video, for the song "How Will I Know", helped introduce the singer to a wider audience when it became one of the first videos by a black female singer to earn heavy rotation on MTV, and it won MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video at its 3rd ceremony of 1986. "Greatest Love of All", the final single released from Houston's debut album, helped cement the M.O. for the classic Whitney video. In June 1986, Houston released her first video compilation The No. 1 Video Hits, containing her four music videos off the Whitney Houston album. It reached number-one on the Billboard Top Music Videocassettes chart and stayed there for 22 weeks, which remains the all-time record for a video collection by a female artist, it was also certified Platinum for shipments of 100,000 units by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on July 15, 1986. In 1987, Houston released the music video for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody ", the first single from her second album Whitney (1987), which depicts Houston in one of her iconic looks, the clip―towering curly wig, colorful dangly earrings and a series of going-to-the-club outfits. In 1988, the music video for the song "One Moment in Time", the title track off the 1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment in Time, was released.
Paramount Global is an American multinational entertainment conglomerate that was the subject of criticisms and controversies about its products and services. Criticism of Paramount Global has included the former Viacom Inc.'s announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry between Leslie Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of MTV Networks. In addition, the company was facing issues after MTV was banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows after the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy in 2004.
John Sykes is an American entertainment industry executive. He is the president of entertainment enterprises at iHeartMedia and the chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. A co-founder of MTV, Sykes was previously president, VH1; president, Chrysalis Records, North America; and chairman and CEO, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation.
Defy Media was an American digital media company that produced original online content for the 12–34 age group. Originally founded in 1996 as Alloy Online, the final company was formed in 2013 by its merger with Break Media.
AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network initially focused on children’s programs, teen dramas, comedies, live events and music videos targeting adolescents and young adults.
Pluto TV is an American free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, Pluto is available in the Americas and Europe. It primarily offers content through digital linear channels designed to emulate the experience of traditional broadcast programming. The service's revenue is generated from video advertisements seen during programming within commercial breaks structured similarly to those found on conventional television.
Robert Marc Bakish is an American business executive. He became the president and CEO of Paramount Global on December 4, 2019, formerly holding the same position at Viacom before the merger with CBS Corporation. He resigned on April 29, 2024 when Paramount was considering a major merger after a poor performance in the stock market.