Robust video platform powers 9.5 million views and delivers 350 Terabytes of video on Nerdist in week one without missing a beat
NEW YORK – July 31, 2014 – JW Player, a leader in online and mobile video, today announced that its advanced online video platform powered Weird Al Yankovic’s “Tacky” video on Nerdist. JW Player was used for the launch of the first video in the series of Weird Al Yankovic’s eight videos, with exclusive video content created by Nerdist published only at Nerdist for the video’s premiere. As a result, in its first week the “Tacky” video had far more video views on JW Player than on YouTube.
Taking off in style, “Tacky” received 8 million video views and 10 million page views, amounting to 300 Terabytes of video and 275,000 hours of video streamed – all in its first 72 hours. By the end of its first week, the video had seen 9.5 million video plays and 12.5 million page views for a total of 350 Terabytes of video delivered and 320,000 hours of video streamed. In just 72 hours, a single web page with one video on JW Player practically doubled Nerdist’s monthly site traffic.
“Through the explosive growth of the “Tacky” video across the web, the JW Player video solution worked flawlessly with high performance and zero downtime,” said Seth Laderman, SVP of Content and Operations at Nerdist. “The exponential growth and high degree of viewing activity for our content is a testament to the strength of JW Platform for publishers.”
JW Player provides a full platform to Nerdist for video playback, hosting, streaming, content management, analytics, and video advertising. The video player in the “Tacky” video used a Nerdist logo and customized video controller, allowing the Nerdist brand to be highlighted to viewers. Video monetization for Nerdist was provided via pre-roll video ads, including a Universal Pictures movie trailer for “Lucy” with Scarlett Johansson, combined with banner ad page monetization and Comic-Con promos. Nerdist also took advantage of JW Player’s embed and share functionality to play “Tacky” on large numbers of sites across the web and in hundreds of articles published the day the video went live.
“Nerdist Industries produced hugely original content with Weird Al, and it’s a privilege to be the underlying platform that allows this content to reach audiences at scale,” said Chris Mahl, President at JW Player. “We empowered Nerdist to achieve this milestone with JW Player technology that permits publishers to easily and efficiently deliver their own video content, monetization, and site control. We’re excited to continue working with Nerdist on innovative video content and technologies.”
Nerdist Industries is no stranger to hits, as it is owned by Legendary Entertainment, the production company which brought us the “Godzilla” film. With 104,000 sales in the United States, however, “Mandatory Fun” makes history as the first comedy album to top Billboard’s album chart since Allan Sherman’s “My Son, the Nut” in 1963 (Nielsen SoundScan). Weird Al Yankovic’s eight new videos have been watched a total of 46 million times. At this point, the JW Player video has almost 10 million video views, about a quarter of all views for the eight videos from the Weird Al campaign. The creative video campaign and user experience has been cited as one of the major contributors to the wild success of the album debut.
About Nerdist Industries
Nerdist Industries is a multi-platform creator of genre and popular culture content. Founded by CEO Chris Hardwick, its online presence includes a website at Nerdist.com; a premium YouTube channel (youtube.com/nerdist) featuring Nerdist News hosted by Jessica Chobot; a combined 2.4 million Twitter followers; a Podcast Network including the flagship Nerdist Podcast; The Nerdist School comedy training program; and the Nerdist Alliance, a community of curated partnerships with some of YouTube’s most talented and passionate creators including up and coming stars Hannah and Hilly Hindi of The Hillywood Show. Nerdist also produces content for television including @midnight for Comedy Central and All Star Celebrity Bowling for AMC. Further, Nerdist hosts live events around the country such as The Nerdist Podcast Live! and Course of the Force, an annual lightsaber relay in partnership with Lucasfilm LTD. Legendary Entertainment acquired Nerdist Industries in August 2012.