Vice Studios (“Gangs of London”) and V10 Entertainment, which owns “America’s Funniest Home Videos” producer Vin DiBona Prods., have come up with a new twist to the age-old TV video clip format. V10 and Vice are behind a new hybrid clip/competition series dubbed “Clip Bait.” The show pits online videos opposite each other in a tournament, as each clip is judged by a panel of content creators. The “ultimate viral champion” will then be chosen in a “live, interactive finale.”
“‘Clip Bait’ is what happens when viral videos stop being watched and start getting judged,” said Vice Studios head of non-scripted development Joe Ingham. “This big, beautiful, bonkers format is part banter, part treasure hunt, and totally participatory. We’ve turned the infinite scroll into a full contact sport, and we cannot wait to unleash it onto a screen near you very soon.”
Ingham will exec produce the series for Vice Studios, while John Stevens and Rick de Oliveira are exec pdoducers for V10 Entertainment. Global rights to the series are currently being shopped at the Mipcom international television market.
“’Clip Bait’ reimagines the clip series and reality competition formats with immediacy and energy to reflect today’s viral video audiences,” said de Oliveira said. “Our partnership with Vice will deliver a high-stakes competition that seamlessly taps into the way audiences watch, share, and connect.”
V10 knows a thing or two about video clips. The Clarion Capital-backed media company acquired “America’s Funniest Home Videos” creator Vin Di Bona Productions, Venture 10 Studio Group, and Fishbowl Worldwide Media in 2023. That gave V10 a library of more than 2.8 million videos, with an output of 250 hours of original content annually.
V10’s library includes 44 owned digital and FAST channels with more than 1600 hours of owned content including “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (36 seasons on ABC), “Follow Me” (Amazon Prime), “Blue Collar Auction” (Peacock), “Totally Funny Kids” and “Totally Funny Animals” (The CW) and “World’s Funniest Videos” (Fox). The company also has “America’s Funniest People” on ABC, Discovery’s “Wild & Weird” and Roku’s “Visionaries with Keanu Reeves & Gard Hollinger.”
As for Vice Studio, which is a division of Vice Media, the company’s output includes Sky’s “Gangs of London,” which was recently renewed for a fourth season, a well as another series for Sky, “Atomic.” Vice is also behind the satirical Saoirse Ronan feature “Bad Apples,” which premiered this year at TIFF and was selected for San Sebastián, BFI London and AFI Film Festival. Vice Studios also owns and operates Cuba Pictures, which is behind Channel 5’s “The Rumour” and RTE’s “The Walsh Sisters.” In unscripted, Vice has “Into the Void” (Hulu), “Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam” (Prime Video), “Pavements” (Mubi), “Bama Rush” (HBO Max), and “Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now” (Netflix).
