New Co-CEOs Jeremy Johnson and Robert Delamar will lead the growing BitTorrent media platforms. David Chidekel joins to support content acquisition, with Straith Schreder as VP of Creative Initiatives
In 2011, we began prototyping a sustainable distribution platform for creators. What started as an experiment in direct-to-fan became something more. Now, over 30,000 creators and more than 200 million fans use BitTorrent Bundle for on demand music and video. Today, we’re announcing a plan to accelerate our momentum in media and creative distribution.
The plan includes new leadership to further commercialize our technology platforms and scale our relationships with creators and sponsors. That starts with the appointment of our two new co-CEOs: Jeremy Johnson and Robert Delamar and other key executive appointments.
Here’s a look at who they are:
Jeremy Johnson, Co-CEO
Jeremy brings product vision with an impressive background as a technology executive in the areas of networking, IoT, and Media. He will be in charge of technology, go-to-market strategy and executive management of product development, operations, and BitTorrent’s media teams. Jeremy brings the network background endemic to our heritage that can further BitTorrent’s mission of building content-centric networks. More importantly, he is a creative and visionary leader committed to bringing great product experiences to market. He has already brought a sharp focus to our product portfolio to support of our media focused business strategy. Jeremy had previously served in similar roles at Silver Spring, Sony Online Entertainment, NetVmg, and Excite@Home.
Robert Delamar, Co-CEO
Robert is an entrepreneurial digital media executive who has dedicated much of his professional career to building and launching global digital content distribution platforms. He has worked alongside creators to extend their artistic reach to new markets around the world. He co-founded and launched unique digital content service offerings such as urbmob (a global social-networking and digital music distribution platform for hip hop artists), Totalmovie (Latin America's first commercial subscription video-on-demand service) and UUX (a hybrid live linear and VOD platform, which enables network operators to launch cloud-based OTT television services throughout Europe and the Americas).
David Chidekel, Head of Business Development and Business Affairs
David Chidekel joins BitTorrent as Head of Business Development and Business Affairs, and is responsible for content acquisition and sponsorship deals. As a partner for the media and entertainment law firm Ritholz Levy Sanders Chidekel & Fields, David represented clients in the media and entertainment industries, including music, film, television, fashion, book publishing, sports, electronic media and gaming, and interactive entertainment.
Straith Schreder, Vice President of Creative Initiatives
We are also stoked to announce the appointment of Straith Schreder as the Vice President of Creative Initiatives. Since joining BitTorrent in 2012, Straith has led the development of our direct-to-fan platform, Bundle. Under her leadership, we have scaled our publisher network to 30,000 active artists, built an in-house creative services team, and designed breakthrough distribution campaigns for more than 300 creators. This includes the first pay-what-you-want digital and theatrical film premiere with David Cross. Straith will now head a division to further grow these initiatives at BitTorrent, which will include the opening of our Los Angeles office.
In the last year, our Bundle publisher network has grown by 50%, with 46% of current publishers now using Bundle as their primary distribution platform. With these artists and our fans, our goal is to build a sustainable ecosystem for experimental storytelling with new revenue streams and a truly transparent data product. We want to connect creators with their passionate fans, the world over. A refresh of the platform is coming this summer that will introduce ad supported streaming through mobile apps.
Coming this Spring will be the introduction of the first application for live video streaming based on our BitTorrent Live protocol. We are in final preparations for launching a streaming Multi-channel app based on Live which is aimed squarely at the OTT market. More information on that will follow shortly, including details on a full lineup of linear programming at launch.
It’s been an amazing 2016 so far and it’s only going to get more interesting.
Buckle up!