Oxygen Media announced today a unique initiative which will integrate animated GIFs from popular social blogging platform Tumblr into Oxygen's original programming schedule. Tumblr content created by Oxygen's Digital team, fans of Oxygen's shows, and popular Tumblr GIF artists will be featured on air during premiere episodes of key series beginning with an all new episode of the tattoo competition series, "Best Ink" on Wednesday, May 8 at 10pm ET/PT, hosted by musician and tattoo enthusiast, Pete Wentz. Oxygen will work directly with Tumblr to source top GIF artists and feature their work in on-air segments designed to complement programming. Call-to-action elements will roll out throughout the partnership, including caption contests for GIFs pulled from future episodes in which the winner's caption will be featured on live television.
"This collaboration takes social TV to the next level," said Harleen Kahlon, Senior
Vice President of Digital at
Oxygen Media. "Our rabid young fan base loves expressing themselves by sharing GIFs of their favorite moments so it
Made sense to integrate this increasingly popular social expression into our shows."
Last fall, the network began hosting live GIF parties on Tumblr to accompany original programming including "The Face," "Best Ink," and "Bad Girls Club," giving Oxygen's socially savvy audience another outlet for expression. During the live parties, GIFs replaying key moments in an episode become available in real time on the show's Tumblr page and, as a result, fans have become more engaged with the programming online, sharing Oxygen's GIFs as well as creating their own. Live GIF parties will still be a part of the social strategy behind
Oxygen Media programming, but with the added element of the GIFs being featured on the TV screen.
"Oxygen's vibrant content has performed incredibly well on Tumblr. Having Tumblr GIF artists remix that content and send it back to
Oxygen on-air is a really great way to close that programming loop, and makes for a new and even better experience across two great visual storytelling platforms," said Mark Coatney, Media Evangelist, Tumblr.
BEST INK SEASON 2
"I'm Sexy and I Know It" - Airing on Wednesday, May 8 at 10PM ET/PT
Judge Joe Capobianco's famous
Style of "Blood Puddin" tattoos are featured in this week's Ink Challenge as the artists attempt to impress him. Hannah Aitchison is lead judge in a sky-high Flash Challenge where the artists ink their work on airplanes.
About
Oxygen Media
Oxygen Media is a multiplatform entertainment brand that delivers relevant and engaging content to young women who like to "live out loud."
Oxygen is rewriting the rulebook for women's media by changing how the world sees entertainment from a young woman's point of view. Through a vast array of unconventional and original content, including "The
Glee Project," "The Face," "Best Ink," "I'm Having Their Baby" and "Bad Girls Club," the growing cable network is the premier destination to find unique and groundbreaking unscripted programming. "The
Glee Project" is a winner of a 2012 Gracie Award which honors programming created for women, by women and about women for "Outstanding Reality Show." A social media trendsetter,
Oxygen is a leading force in engaging modern young women, wherever they are, with popular, award winning features online including www.OxygenLive.com, the real time social viewing party that is also available as an app for the iPhone and iPad.
Oxygen is available in 80 million homes, and can be found online and on mobile devices at www.oxygen.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OxygenPR.
Oxygen Media is a service of NBCUniversal.
About Tumblr
Founded by David Karp in New York City in 2007, Tumblr is a social blogging platform that allows individuals to post and share anything effortlessly, including text, photos, quotes, links, audio and video. A top 10 US network, Tumblr now hosts over 103 million blogs, 44 billion posts, and 170 million unique visitors, according to Quantcast, fulfilling its mission as the premier publishing and distribution platform for creative individuals.
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