Global social networking site Bebo has launched the brand new internet drama series KateModern, commissioned by and screening exclusively on Bebo. The brand new web-based series is the spin-off of the hugely successful Lonelygirl15, the world’s most popular interactive drama series which launched in June 2006 and has since been viewed more than 60 million times. In line with this new trend in entertainment, Bebo is at the centre of the dialogue about how online programming is shaping teenage viewing habits, and with KateModern, is giving its 8.8 million UK users exactly what they’re asking for.
KateModern arrives to fill a void for the viewing youth, offering an attractive alternative to traditional TV which no longer satisfies their needs. TV’s lost youth are the net generation, and with Bebo users spending upwards of 40 minutes a day on the site, it’s clear that they look to the internet to not only interact with friends, but increasingly, for cutting-edge entertainment.
A truly unique offering, KateModern is a serial drama played out in real time on the internet, where viewers can influence the plotline via interaction on their Bebo profiles. KateModern fans will be able to participate through integrated alternate reality games (ARG), live events and web-based interactivity to post messages for the show’s characters, exchange plot ideas and upload their own videos to the characters’ profile pages.
For KateModern, Bebo joins forces with Lonelygirl15’s team of pioneering online storytellers, paving the way for the ground-breaking series to be the next big internet phenomenon. In creating this unique platform through which fans can interact with the characters directly, Bebo is at the forefront of creating an exciting new form of entertainment.
Joanna Shields, President, International, Bebo and Executive Producer KateModern commented: “At Bebo we’ve developed KateModern to fill a niche in youth entertainment, and working alongside creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, are confident we have a hit on our hands. The series is set to become part of an ongoing conversation with the Bebo community, offering far more than just streamed video clips, but an evolution of a new medium in which Bebo users can interact with the characters and shape the plot via video blogs, text messages, photo sharing and user comments.
With the highest engagement of any social network and the opportunities are endless for brands, advertisers, producers and celebrities to connect with this young audience who now live a substantial part of their lives online.”
Miles Beckett, Co-Creator and Executive Producer of both Lonelygirl15 and KateModern said: “Storytelling on the internet requires a different approach and we’ve spent the last year honing our craft on Lonelygirl15.
KateModern is the culmination of all that we’ve learned.
Bebo’s unique social networking features encourage interactivity beyond that of other platforms and enables us to tell a story in a way that has never been done before.”
Progressing daily, a series of exclusive video blog installments
are posted at KateModern.bebo.com, linking viewers through to each character’s profile page for still more content. Following its premiere on Bebo, the video blogs are then rolled out via www.LG15.com, YouTube and other websites.
KateModern stars newcomers Alex Weaver as Kate, Ralf Little as Gavin, and Australian Tara Rushton as Charlie and Jai Rajani as Tariq.
KateModern tells the story of four young adults searching for their personal identity in the setting of a mystery that unfolds across the internet and through the streets of London. The series centres on 20-year-old Kate, a university art student who, against her parent’s wishes, stays in London for the summer with her boyfriend, Tariq. Tariq has recently quit his investment banking job to pursue founding his own technology company with his pal, Gavin; while Kate’s best friend, fun loving Aussie Charlie, helps Kate let her hair down a little!
Viewers will follow Kate’s struggle to balance her complex social life and the dark forces that shadow her. By interacting with each character’s Bebo profile, viewers can really get to know Kate and her friends as well as becoming avid daily viewers. ends…
For further information, please contact: Catriona PollardCP Communications
About BeboBebo is a global social networking website which aims to bring together like minded individuals who are creative, expressive and socially aware. Bebo has over 35 million members worldwide and is the largest social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand and one of the top 3 social networks in the US, Canada and Australia.
Over 90% of Bebo users are under the age of 35 and the site is one of the fastest growing on the Internet, with 5 users signing up each second. Bebo is also one of the world’s most engaging websites, now the 2nd most engaged site after Google in the UK.
Bebo won the People's Choice award in the Social Networking category at the 2006 Webby awards and was named as the number one search term in the Year-End Google Zeitgeist 2006. Bebo was founded in 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch.
About Lonleygirl15First seen on the internet in summer 2006, Lonelygirl15 quickly gained popularity on YouTube and on its home site www.LG15.com.
In September, the creators revealed that the story of teenagers on the run in search of the evil society, The Order was actually scripted and produced by three twenty-something guys from California a doctor, Miles Beckett, a lawyer, Greg Goodfried and a screenwriter Mesh Flinders.
Lonelygirl15, which has evolved into an ensemble action based drama in the vein of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” or “The X Files,” continues to be a top subscribed video on YouTube. Video episodes typically receive between 250,000- 300,000 views per with some logging in at over a million each for a total of over 60 million combined videos viewed.
Lonelygirl15 broke barriers when it integrated Hershey’s Icebreaker’s Sours Gum into an episode and the Nutrogena brand into the story over a two month period.
Beckett and Goodfried are now also producing and Beckett is writing and directing the new ongoing drama, KateModern.
Both can be seen at www.LG15.com. On Friday, August 3rd, the creators of Lonelygirl15 will upload 12 episodes of the interactive series over the course of 12 hours to mark the dramatic conclusion of the groundbreaking first season.
The ensemble cast will see the culmination of many of the mysteries that have been weaving throughout the storyline and new adventures will be launched for Season Two which premieres on Monday the 6th.
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