WWE today announced an investment in and strategic partnership with Tout, a deal that provides better visuals than the rest of the $13.4 million in series B financing the social video platform announced.
New investors WWE, 819 Capital, Gordon Crawford, and Stan Shuman & Jack Schneider from Allen & Co. join previous investors including Stanford Research Institute (SRI), Horizons Ventures and Seavest Ventures.
Tout enables users to share 15-second video clips automatically and in real time, and other users can respond. Tout updates can be sent to the user’s choice of Tout.com, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, SMS and email contacts.
WWE will feature Tout across its network of WWE.com, television, live events, digital, print and more than 100 million social media followers. WWE is making a big splash regarding Tout on July 23, during the 1,000 episode of Monday Night Raw. Additionally, WWE Superstars will interact with fans via Tout question and answer sessions leading up to the event.
Or to quote WWE’s language, “Starting with the historic 1,000th episode of Raw on July 23 at 8/7 CT on USA Network, WWE takes interactivity to the next level when Monday nights go RAWactive!”
Looking forward, WWE will launch “Tout Tuesdays” giving fans the opportunity to discuss what happened the previous night on Monday Night Raw.
“WWE is in a class by itself as a media giant who has innovatively grown their business through social media,” said Michael Downing, CEO of Tout. “We could not envision a better partner to show how the Tout platform powers high-impact, real-time engagement across broadcast TV, digital and live events.”
Tout has 23 million users, a number the WWE partnership will undoubtedly swell. Wendy Williams, Ryan Seacrest, Erin Andrews, Dr. Oz, Jeff Probst, Mitt Romney, CBS, National Geographic Channel, CNBC’s Fast Money, C-SPAN and ESPN are among Tout’s existing users.
“WWE looks forward to partnering with Tout to grow this innovative social media platform,” said Vince McMahon, WWE chairman and CEO. “Tout’s real-time video technology will become a critical component of fan interactivity in our weekly television programming and will be utilized to connect WWE directly with our fans in new ways.”
Related links:
Tout.com – press release
WWE – press release
WWE – Your Guide to Getting RAWactive!
All Things D – Video Sharing + Body Slams = Tout
Multichannel News – WWE Pins Down Investment, Strategic Partnership With Social Media Company Tout
Photo of WWE’s Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio by Flickr user interbeat, used under Creative Commons license
