It wasn’t in on the original announcement, but Sumo.tv, a web-based video-sharing platform that also has a 24/7 channel on Sky channel 144, has now signed up to Bebo’s OpenMedia initiative. Sumo’s Bebo profile is not yet active but will invite its usual brand of entertaining homespun videos from site members. It won’t stop at Bebo. Sumo is planning “further distribution deals with social networking platforms as part of its strategy to extend its UK and international reach”.
The interesting point here is it marks a slight shift from Sumo.tv considering itself just a destination portal and toward extending the brand across multiple sites. Last we heard from Sumo.tv, it was doing things the other way around – striking deals with TV makers Bluefish, Zeal and Liberation to host their programming on its site. But social networks, in particular (since they already enjoy large audiences in the 16-34 bracket), would seem to offer good opportunities for such outfits to attract contributors and eyeballs away from the core site alone.
Sumo.tv was launched in October 2006 by Cellcast, a developer of digital TV and mobile participation applications, aiming to license contributors