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***For Immediate Release***
Samsung Makes Strategic Investment In Interlude
Companies Exploring Collaborations Combining Interlude’s Breakthrough Video Technology with Samsung’s Portfolio of Devices
LOS ANGELES – November 5, 2015 – Interlude, a media and technology company that is pioneering a new kind of video that responds to a person’s emotions and interests, today announced Samsung Ventures has made a strategic investment in the company. The intent is to explore the integration of Interlude’s platform for streaming interactive video with Samsung’s portfolio of devices and services.
This announcement comes on the heels of increasing momentum of new content using the Interlude platform, including: Carly Rae Jepsen’s interactive relaunch of the video “Run Away with Me”; the introduction of Interlude’s pilot, in partnership with Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets, “Call Bullsh#t”; an interactive drama from the BBC called “Casualty: First Day”, and a new “TV show” called “Virtual Morality”. Other collaborations this year included CeeLo Green and Led Zeppelin on the music front, and CocaCola's Mother's Day and MTV Scream on the branded content side.
Interlude is reimagining video for a generation that wants to do more than just watch passively by creating immersive, interactive experiences that are both playful and thought provoking. Interlude’s music video for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” has been viewed millions of times. Boasting dramatically higher engagement rates than tradition “linear” videos, it has been shown viewers engage with Interlude videos even more than top Facebook and YouTube videos (2.7% vs 60-90% of Interlude videos). Interlude’s interactive videos have also shown to retain users two to three times longer when compared to tradition “linear” videos.
“Samsung’s investment underscores the value of Interlude’s approach to immersive storytelling,” said Yoni Bloch, founder and CEO at Interlude. “They understand our vision and our belief that a new medium where the story adapts to a person’s interests is the next major form of media. As a company that is constantly focused on technology innovation, Samsung is the perfect partner to help us make our platform broadly available.”
“Yoni and his team at Interlude are enabling next-generation interactive experiences across digital content and Virtual Reality. We look forward to exploring potential collaborations with various business units at Samsung,” said Joseph Coyne, Strategic Investments, Samsung Global Innovation Center.
About Interlude
Interlude (www.interlude.fm) is pioneering a new form of media in which video can respond to a person’s actions and interests in real-time. Stories told using our patented technology platform can adapt in a multitude of directions; like in a video game, the viewer steps into the story to make choices that affect dialogue, and even the plot, at any particular moment in time. This means that viewers are offered nearly infinite experiences in live-action video within a single piece of content. The result is highly engaging game-like videos that consumers play over and over. We partner with entertainment companies, independent creators, and top brands to create episodic series that are distributed widely through a network of affiliates on the mobile web, mobile apps, and the web. Interlude investors include Sequoia Capital, NEA, Intel Capital, Marker, and Innovation Endeavors. The company is based in New York, NY with additional offices in Tel Aviv, Israel and Los Angeles, CA.