Inside Machinima, The New Video Network For Gamers And Fanboys

Los Angeles is becoming a mecca of new digital media companies like Maker Studios, Fullscreen, and others. As part of TechCrunch TV’s tour of these companies, we checked out Machinima, which is one of the largest multichannel networks on YouTube. Over the course of that tour, we found out how the company has evolved and what its plans are for the future.

The concept of “machinima” started out as an art form, which was user-generated content in which gamers acted out storylines using various video game engines. When it first launched, Machinima.com helped to aggregate the best of that content, but it has rapidly expanded the breadth and scope of the videos on its network.

“Now Machinima is a certain type of content, with a certain sensibility,” Machinima EVP of Marketing Kevin Doohan told me. “That sensibility is polarizing — you either love it or you hate it, but you won’t feel nothing about it.”

More than just a network of individual channels, Machinima has grown to begin producing its own episodic, feature-length videos. It now has six big episodic series that it’s invested in, including franchises like Mortal Kombat: Legacy and Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.

That is part of its move toward becoming a global entertainment brand. Gaming just seemed like a natural vertical for the company to go after, given the size of the audience and the level of engagement. Surprisingly, as it’s grown its number of users, viewers are spending more time with the content. As it’s produced more higher-quality originals, it’s found its users actually engaging with the content for longer, even as more tune in.

Check out the video above to learn more about how Machinima continues to evolve and what creators can expect when joining the network. Also, be sure to tune in every Monday and Wednesday over the next several weeks, as we continue to explore L.A.’s new video ecosystem.

Check out all the videos that we’ve produced around the large (and growing) new video ecosystem in LA: