By Stevie Smith Aug 20, 2007, 14:59 GMT
In an effort to bolster the possibility of finding a new animated phenomenon to match the likes of South Park and The Simpsons, a fresh-faced startup is bringing its creative community to the pages of Google Inc.’s hugely influential video-sharing Web site YouTube.
Aniboom, which was founded in Israel and officially launched in 2006 as a home for animation artists of all levels to share and vote upon animated content, is to soon release a dedicated channel on YouTube in order to highlight the professional and amateur talent presently producing across the medium.
The community-driven Web site presently has some 2500 contributing artists spread throughout 70 different countries. It also provides specific assistance to its members by delivering helpful animation tools to aid in their creations, reports Reuters.
Beyond the high-profile move to YouTube, Aniboom is also driving forward with an initiative to uncover another landmark animated series via the input of an elite selection of its animators. The service believes that it will be able to produce around 10 series on the Web for the price of a single untested television pilot before then airing those series to an audience of around 2 million viewers in order to gauge feedback
"We are finding the right, top talent out of the community of Aniboom animators and we are offering them a partnership that we create with them a series," commented Aniboom CEO Uri Shinar regarding the move to select 10 artists to create a series of Web-based animated episodes designed to spawn "the next hit" animated show. "The main dream," Shinar added, "is that the next South Park will come out of Aniboom."
The announcement of Aniboom’s arrival on YouTube is expected to arrive some time this week in order to grant the service’s animation community even more widespread access to influential online traffic. Aniboom is also presently holding talks with various wireless carriers, TV networks, and distribution outlets in the hope of bringing its animated creations to a truly massive demographic.
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