NEW YORK — Machinima, the sprawling digital gaming network, could hang a McDonald’s-like sign outside its Los Angeles headquarters: More than 37.4 billion videos served.
That’s how many views the Machinima network has generated. And it all started with one video.
Allen DeBevoise and his brother, Philip, acquired Machinima Inc. in 2005, but didn’t start developing it on the then-nascent YouTube until 2007. One of its first series came from a user named “SodaGod.” The series, “Inside Halo,” served as a center for enthusiasm for the popular science fiction video game franchise. Six years later, Machinima has grown into one of the most successful networks on YouTube, a gamer hub composed of a little expensively produced original programming, and a whole lot of user-generated videos.
While the land rush to stream “premium” original content is drawing an increasing number of video professionals to the Web, YouTube’s swelling multichannel networks are finding success with a more organic, bottom-up approach.