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FRICTION.tv awards Soup £1m online account
Posted: 20 July 2007

FRICTION.tv has appointed Soup to boost growth and enable the 'online speaker's corner' to scale and internationalise. Friction.tv intends to spend £1 million with Soup, as it moves to strengthen its online position.

Friction.tv, the user-generated debating site launched in Spring 2007 has appointed full-service digital marketing agency Soup to drive traffic and new registrations, develop the creative look and feel of the site and to continue technology developments. This includes working with Friction’s mobile partner, Picsel Technologies, to launch a mobile version of the site during Q3 of this year. On an annualised basis, the account is valued at around £1m.

Friction.tv has rapidly emerged as a leading web destination for debating the issues of the day. Open to anyone, and acting as an `online speakers' corner`, the site takes opinions, in the form of short videos created and uploaded by its registrants, and lets other viewers respond, either with their own video or through written comments.

Friction.tv continues to gain space and profile in the market; last week Channel 5 announced the launch of Five News' partnership with Friction.tv. The two companies are taking Five News' 'Your News' feature to the next level with 'Your Views', where video from Friction.TV will provide a platform for views on current affairs and local issues for Five News’ 1 million plus nightly audience.

Covering areas as diverse as the environment, entertainment, politics, local issues and sport, Friction.tv's aim is to 'spark the debate' and it has already attracted the attention of high profile politicians and campaigners. Contributors to date include: Boris Johnson MP, Kate Hudson, chair of CND, Tommy Sheridan MSP, Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone.

Founder and CEO of Friction.tv, Omer Shaikh, who was previously Head of Digital at TBWAGGT and Red Kite says, "We needed to raise our head above the parapet and our beta release site got us to market fast. It was well received by our viewers, proved our idea and delivered us great user feedback. Through this we learned that we had to make it easier for viewers to respond and interact; we also needed to scale the site and be able to internationalise.

Growing from our existing 100,000 unique users per month, to the million per month we want by the end of the year, we needed a partner like Soup, with the right skills and technical ability, coupled with the resources to take us quickly to a global scale - with the planned expansion to the US, the Far East and the rest of Europe."

He continues, "We now have a more intuitively usable and accessible site that helps us move viewers from being interested observers to active, ongoing debaters. In addition, the site looks great and is sitting on a robust infrastructure that ensures we can grow with confidence."

Mike Cornwell, Chairman of Soup, and a former colleague of Shaikh's during their four years together at TBWAGGT, said: "Friction.TV understands that providing a great experience for its viewers is the key to stimulating debate, encouraging contributions and building a valuable brand experience. The site is pioneering a new form of social networking that has fantastic global potential and we're delighted to be involved at this early stage."