It seems like every site is trying to land groundbreaking original series on its platform, and the front page of the Internet is no different.
Reddit announced the launch of a six-episode mini-documentary series on Wednesday that premieres today on Conde Nast Entertainment's online video platform The Scene.
Titled Cyborg Nation, the documentary series is hosted by Derek Muller, the creator of a science channel on YouTube. Each episode is be about five minutes long, with topics including profiles on SynTouch, the company that created touch-sensitive prosthetic hands, and Hugh Herr, the rock climber with a bionic leg. All topics were recommended by members of the r/Futurology subreddit.
"The hundreds of thousands of communities of Reddit generate more original ideas in one day than the world's best newsroom could produce in a lifetime," Reddit co-founder and chairman Alexis Ohanian said.
Ohanian previously posted about the series in the subreddit to find suggestions. The post is as follows:
"Hey redditors. We're working with WIRED Magazine on a new Web show called Cyborg Nation, and we're looking for some of the most imaginative and cutting edge devices and technologies that people are using and inventing to enhance human capabilities and solve disabilities.
It's commonplace to track our movements on fitness bands, monitor our sleep patterns with cell phones, and interact with our homes on smart watches, but how far will it go? Will our grandkids think nothing of onlining their nervous systems? Will disability be a thing of the past? The show will look at the ground breaking technology of today, and contemplate a realistic future that is truly 'post-human.'
Got a good idea for a subject or technology that we don't know about?"
With more than 200 million people part of Reddit's communities that hone in one specific topics from politics to fan theories, Reddit has the user base to tap into when brainstorming and discovering new topics worth exploring. Plus, adding original videos is another way to attract new users to the platform and further highlight its forums.
To bring Cyborg Nation to its platform, Reddit teamed up with Conde Nast Entertainment to help with the storytelling aspect of the series. The original series debuted on Conde Nast-owned properties like Wired's video website The Scene, and channels and apps that are part of its syndication network, as well as YouTube, and can be streamed on devices such as Apple TV and Roku.
The new series is just one of Reddit's video series in the works. Reddit also partnered up with Google and its r/entrepreneur subreddit for its other new series called Formative, which explores a defining moment in someone's life and that just closed submissions on Oct. 20.
While the platform is a long way away from becoming the next Netflix, interestingly enough, the traffic tracker company ComScore found that eight times the number of people are part of subreddits compared with those who stream from Hulu. With such a massive audience, Reddit just might be able to establish itself as a go-to series provider.
Reddit has also kept the cost down to produce the series by using just a three-person video team that worked alongside Conde Nast's production team.
The site will also feature AMAs (Ask Me Anything) on the profile subjects of Cyborg Nation, although they are not yet confirmed.
Cyborg Nation was produced by creative agency Acres New York, with executive producer Ohanian, Acres' Andrew Simkiss and Matt McLaughlin, Reddit's Michael Pope and CNé's Rachel Samuels.
Source: CNET
