Montreal-based Canoe.tv is adding new English and French web series to its portfolio – which includes Canoe.ca as well as information verticals like Cnews, Slam!, Jam! and Lifewise, as well as the Sun Media newspaper sites. The Canoe Network attracts over 8.8 million monthly visitors.
As well, Canoe GM of digital media and eCommerce Dominique Forest tells MiC that product placement and branded content are part of the company’s strategy for the coming months. ‘We have proposed this to a lot of agencies in French, and will propose it to a lot of agencies in English during the next few weeks,’ he explains, adding that about 10 concepts are in the works in categories ranging from cooking to drama, and some pilots have been produced.
‘First, we’ll do more product placement with concepts that haven’t been put online yet,’ says Forest. ‘We are also proposing the introduction of content built completely around a brand, line-up of products or a specific product.’
Canoe.tv’s programming is projected to top 400 series this year, with many marked for future availability on mobile platforms. About 20 English and 30 French shows have debuted on Canoe.tv since its launch last November, and the company says its site delivers more than 2.5 million minutes of video per month.
GM and Molson product placements already exist in one of Canoe’s newly launched French series, J’aime Julie S, a show about a woman’s search for love online (and the company’s first fiction/reality series exclusive to the web).
The other new French-language shows include Bookmark, which comprises 52 five-minute capsules about the latest concepts in design, architecture, fashion, art and travel, and Super Denis, about a former hero whose only motivation is to pick up his pay cheque.
The new English-language shows include StreetSeen, hosted by producer and author Len D. Henry, who scours the streets of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in search of talent in music, fashion and art; The Untitled Underground Sports News Web Show, a showcase for often-ignored sports such as pillow fighting and thumb wrestling; Naugh-T & Nyce, named for two girls who are sex scene investigators; The Art of Building Bodies, a half-hour show about staying fit; and Who’s Coming For Dinner?, which explores the food dilemmas Canadians face everyday with chef Jeff Suddaby.
GM Ray Ostor says Canoe.tv is ‘an integral part of the new-media era, where consumers watch what they want whenever it’s convenient for them.’
