It was data that led our pivot from media to AI and now we are WordPress VIP’s global video solution.
Our mission remains to put a relevant video in every article, tell trusted news to billions and to use that scale to repatriate advertising from the Big Tech platforms back to the journalists who report the news around us.
The Oovvuu leadership team are journalists ourselves, having come from the newsrooms of The BBC, News Corp, Bloomberg among others, and we have been on a surprising journey.
We thought the solution was just to provide more video to publishers, but it turned out that was not enough.
It began a pivot to being a tech company, as we developed our own AI to recommend the right videos for articles. That led to us becoming the video platform for WordPress VIP, publisher of 34% of the web.
That scale has provided fascinating new insights that have led us to the new and exciting frontier we are introducing today.
Oovvuu Originals
Oovvuu’s technology can now read the world’s articles in the blink of an eye, and our video partnerships mean we can see if a matching video exists.
It also means we know when a video does not exist, and we have merged that with our mission to refinance the news industry and made a commitment to fill the gaps.
We have begun funding and commissioning co-productions with the world’s most trusted news brands to make video we know people want and that we know doesn’t exist now.
We know what people are reading and want to know about, and we know newsrooms have been starved of video investment. Oovvuu Originals solves the needs of both.
The world is awash with reporting; relentless news snippets about every twist and turn, but the world is starved of journalism
It also goes back to our journalism roots.
Our founder Ricky Sutton defines journalism as “something you didn’t know, or even knew you wanted or needed to know, that has the power to surprise, delight or spark a new or original thought”.
We have learned from broadcasters and newsrooms across the world that these amazing stories are not being told, or are being left on the cutting room floor because they can’t get air amid the helter-skelter race to meet the daily news agenda.
Oovvuu Originals is now providing the money to empower the journalists who care to make the stories that reset the balance.
We began this initiative with the UK Press Association, and we have since added Canadian Press and America’s most trusted news brand PBS Newshour.
Oovvuu Originals are already outperforming the frantic output of most traditional news agencies and major broadcasters.
Joe Pickover, PA Media’s Head of Video, said: “PA Media and Oovvuu have worked together closely to creating innovative, original video content for global audiences.
“Oovvuu and PA’s Originals series offers a unique perspective on stories which audiences wouldn’t normally see in day-to-day reporting.
“I value our partnership with Oovvuu greatly and I’m excited to see our relationship blossom further in future months and years.”
And the stories are beautiful, insightful and new.
When Space X blasted off as the US rioted in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, who stopped to notice the jarring similarities with 50 years earlier? We did.
When every headline screams the latest virus death toll, who is stopping to ask whether airplane filters could slow the spread?
We chose journalism as a career to bring to millions news that they do not know, and that can enhance and inform lives.
Oovvuu Originals is our latest innovation, and we are just starting. Expect to see more Oovvuu Originals videos in your favourite publishers in the future.
If you’re a publisher or broadcaster interested in being funded to be an Oovvuu Original partner, get in touch below.