Atlas Media Launches Digital Arm

NEW YORK: Atlas Media Corp. has established a digital unit to create and develop IP, launch multiplatform channels and sell sponsorships and branded integrations.

The first initiative for the new unit is Curious Jack, a multiplatform channel that celebrates fun, quirky and surprising information about pop culture, food, fashion, music, history, science and the paranormal. Curious Jack will show viewers “things you didn’t know you need to know” and will launch on August 15 with a half-dozen short-form series, including 1001 Things You Need to Know, Jack on the Street, 7 Secrets with Myka Fox and Best Proof.

The Curious Jack team is led by Victor Varnado, a seasoned multiplatform creative executive who has overseen projects for Comedy Central, Nerdist, Legendary Entertainment and Marvel Comics, among others. A separate team within the company has been hired to develop and produce digital content, analyze data and manage the channel’s social-media outreach and search engine optimization.

Atlas plans to launch several multiplatform channels a year. The second channel is due to launch in the fourth quarter of 2016. It is sports-driven and venture-capital backed. The third, set to launch in 2017, is dedicated to Hollywood and pop culture.

“If we’re going to be able to follow our production partners—and audiences—to new distribution platforms over the next few years, it’s crucial that we invest resources now in the digital space,” said Bruce David Klein, Atlas Media’s president and executive producer. “The Wild West of digital scares off a lot of linear producers, and it’s taken us a bit of time to figure out how to do digital right and how to assemble a team that gets it, but we did it, and we’re ready for a big adventure.”

Atlas Media Corp. is based in New York and also has offices in Los Angeles. The company produces nonfiction television programming, feature documentaries and digital content.