Movieclips announced a partnership with Google that will bring more than 20,000 high-definition clips from Movieclips’ library for viewing on YouTube, an initiative backed up by a $7 million investment round.
The clips are licensed from the libraries of six major Hollywood studios. Movieclips then has human content curators add up to 1,000 code points, so that users can search for clips by actor, title, genre, and several other categories. Additionally, the service can make recommendations based on each user’s demonstrated preferences, and the clips are prepared for all kinds of future uses.
“Our goal is to promote the discovery of movies,” said Movieclips co-founder Richard Raddon in a statement. “By making our clips accessible on the biggest video platform on the web, we unlock the power of movie clips to promote feature film purchase and rental.”
The Movieclips Channel on YouTube will also offer movie games, clip mashups, trivia, trailers, and original movie related shows and programming. “There’s a sea of content that can add to a YouTube user’s movie experience thanks to Movieclips.com,” said Camille Hearst, YouTube’s product marketing manager for Music, Movies, and Shows.
Supporting this expansion will be a $7 million Series B round led by MK Capital with participation from previous investors Shasta, First Round, SoftTech, Richmond Park Partners, Naval Ravikant, Jeff Kearl, Tom McInerney, Gordon Rubenstein, and Machinima CEO Allen DeBevoise.
MK Capital is also a founding investor in Machinima, which is already a popular publisher on YouTube. Mark Terbeek of MK Capital will join the Movieclips board of directors, and MK Capital’s Yair Landau will become a board observer.
Landau previously was vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and president of Sony Pictures Digital. “I’m happy to bring my years of studio experience and deep relationships to help Movieclips realize its tremendous potential,” he said.
