Famously bespectacled Loaded magazine founder James Brown has been appointed group creative and editorial director of Sumo.tv, a web-based video-sharing platform that also has a TV channel on Sky and has put out a flurry of news today. Brown will be responsible for building the brand and the editorial and marketing teams; he’s targeting international growth. Sumo.tv was launched in October 2006 by Cellcast, a developer of digital TV and mobile participation applications, aiming to license contributors’ UGC to international broadcasters, and started its own 24/7 channel a month later on Sky channel 144. Cellcast is now seeking funding partners to continue to bankroll Sumo.tv separately.
Brown’s Loaded kickstarted the lads mag culture in 1994 before he joined Conde Nast’s GQ and formed his own company. Using unaudited figures, Cellcast also said Sumo.tv Q3 revenue had more than doubled to £124,000 while web traffic grew 25 percent to four million unique monthly users. And the outfit said it left Mipcom with revenue-sharing deals with Eidos New Media subsidiary Bluefish to host its little puzzle games, with formats rightsholder Zeal Entertainment to publish premium content and with DVD distributor Liberation Entertainment (of Chuckle Brothers fame) to show streaming video and downloads.