ONLINE CHANNELS:
Kickstarter has acquired Vancouver-based video streaming startup Huzza and will be opening a Vancouver office. The purchase follows their collaboration that led to the launch of Kickstarter Live in November. Huzza founders Justin Womersley and Nick Smit will help run Live and open Kickstarter’s first international office. Kickstarter will be hiring local engineers and designers, among other positions, to build a Vancouver team.
Snapchat is debuting a companion series to the BBC doc Planet Earth II on Feb. 17, one day before the program is televised in the U.S. and Canada. This is the first time Snapchat is debuting a companion show before the TV event. Snapchat will use the debut to test drive new features for its Snapcodes, including unlocking preview content. The Snapchat series will include six episodes, narrated by London actress Sophie Okonedo.
Corus has announced it has partnered with Sharethrough, the industry’s leading native supply side platform, to launch a new native advertising offering across all of its online properties. Through this new partnership, Corus will be able to offer dynamic video and display formats that match the visual style of natural content and remain consistent with the native user experience, resulting in a less disruptive audience experience than traditional display ads.
Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) has relaunched dibaajimo.com, a free digital learning platform that trains indigenous Canadians in journalism and helps them begin their careers. Dibaajimo, derived from the Ojibwe and Cree word “dibaajimowin” – meaning a story or a narrative – offers a 22-module course that provides the journalism basics. The platform is part of JHR’s Indigenous Reporters Program, which strives to increase the quality and quantity of indigenous stories and voices in Canadian media. In the last two years, the program has placed 19 interns with mainstream media outlets, 10 have since been hired full-time.
