HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IMDb (www.imdb.com), the #1 movie website in the world, today announced the first-ever “IMDb Live Viewing Party, Presented by OREO Chocolate Candy Bar,” a live companion show to the Academy Awards designed to provide fans and industry insiders with unique, entertaining and informative coverage of Hollywood’s biggest night. The live broadcast hosted by Dave Karger (IMDb Special Correspondent) and Rachel Smith (host of Amazon’s Style Code Live) will stream live on IMDb.com, Twitter and Twitch from an invitation-only industry viewing party at Neuehouse (formerly the historic CBS Radio Studio) in Hollywood, California.
IMDb’s nearly five-hour live show will begin at approximately 5 PM Pacific on Sunday, February 26, and will focus on a fun, freewheeling conversation during which Dave Karger, Rachel Smith, celebrity guests and industry influencers will provide informative expert commentary to complement and enhance the experience of watching the Academy Awards telecast. IMDb’s live show will feature celebrity guests and will also integrate IMDb information and proprietary, real time data, along with pre-produced interviews with nominees Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges.
IMDb’s live show will be simulcast and promoted by two of the industry’s live video leaders, Twitter and Twitch (http://twitch.tv/twitch). Twitter’s live stream of IMDb’s Live Viewing Party will be available globally for free to logged-in and logged-out users on Twitter and connected devices. Tweets about the #Oscars will appear in a timeline along with the live video on Twitter, available at imdb.twitter.com, in Twitter’s explore tab or via @IMDb. Exclusive to Twitch is the ability to create a personalized social experience by letting streamers “co-stream” the show on their channels. This allows them to broadcast it directly to their own communities with their own commentary.
IMDb’s editorial coverage of the 89th Academy Awards will include real-time winner announcements, photo galleries, trivia quizzes and more.
“This year we are taking our coverage of the Academy Awards to an entirely new level,” said Col Needham, IMDb’s founder and CEO. “In addition to our extensive online coverage, we’ll be producing our first-ever VIP industry viewing party and companion show, which will stream live across the world on IMDb, Twitter and Twitch. We are thrilled that IMDb’s live coverage of The Academy Awards, a unique mix of expert commentary, humor and IMDb data will also serve as Twitter’s Oscars-night broadcast and that Twitch users can personalize and share our live show as well.”
"Twitter is where people go to see what's happening in real time around the Academy Awards," said Anthony Noto, COO at Twitter. "Our collaboration with IMDb will provide live commentary from both experts and fans throughout the telecast, as well as interviews with some of Hollywood's best.”
“We believe new OREO Chocolate Candy bars are so delicious they are award-worthy,” said Samantha Greenwood, Senior Category Director, Chocolate – North America at Mondelēz International. “On Hollywood’s biggest night we are excited to team up with IMDb to showcase our big news and help deliver a memorable viewing experience to consumers.”
About “IMDb Live Viewing Party, Presented by OREO Chocolate Candy Bar”
IMDb’s first-ever viewing party will welcome, by invitation only, more than 300 industry insiders to Neuehouse in Hollywood, California. Party guests will be treated to food, drinks and a OREO Chocolate Candy Bar sampling station while watching the Academy Awards, and the production of IMDb’s first-ever live companion show, featuring celebrity conversations and a stream of real-time IMDb facts, data and social commentary. IMDb’s live companion show to The Academy Awards telecast will begin with a pre-show at 5 PM, and will wrap up with a post-show once the Academy Awards broadcast concludes. IMDb’s show includes “Hosted Mode” -- live conversation between hosts Dave Karger, Rachel Smith and celebrity guests – and “Second Screen Mode” -- silent information, graphics and unique IMDb data and trivia that will complement the telecast.
About IMDb
IMDb is the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The IMDb consumer site (www.imdb.com) is the #1 movie website in the world with a combined web and mobile audience of more than 250 million unique monthly visitors. IMDb offers a searchable database of more than 185 million data items including more than 4 million movies, TV and entertainment programs and more than 6 million cast and crew members. Consumers rely on the information IMDb provides -- including local movie showtimes, ticketing, trailers, critic and user reviews, personalized recommendations, photo galleries, entertainment news, quotes, trivia, box-office data, editorial feature sections and a universal Watchlist – when deciding what to watch and where to watch it. IMDb’s portfolio of leading entertainment apps (http://www.imdb.com/apps/) includes its popular “Movies & TV” app for iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android phones, Android tablets and its mobile-optimized website. To date, there have been more than 115 million downloads of IMDb’s mobile apps worldwide. IMDb's X-Ray for Movies & TV Shows (www.imdb.com/x-ray) is a feature that revolutionizes the viewing experience by bringing the power of IMDb directly to Kindle Fire HD, Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. IMDb’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/imdb) and official Twitter account (https://twitter.com/imdb) are followed by more than 10 million passionate entertainment fans. IMDbPro (http://www.imdbpro.com) is the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals. This membership-based service includes comprehensive information and tools that are designed to help entertainment industry professionals achieve success throughout all stages of their career. IMDbPro offers members the following: detailed contact and representation information; IMDb profile management tools; exclusive STARmeter rankings that are determined by user searches on IMDb; a casting service to post breakdowns and apply to roles, a mobile optimized website and more. Additionally, IMDb owns and operates Withoutabox (http://www.withoutabox.com), the premier submission service for film festivals and filmmakers, and Box Office Mojo (http://www.boxofficemojo.com), the leading online box-office reporting service. IMDb.com is operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) (http://www.amazon.com). To learn more, go to: http://www.imdb.com/press.
About Twitch
Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Each day, millions of community members gather to watch, talk, and chat about shared interests. Twitch’s video platform is the backbone of both live and on-demand distribution for all types of content, including the entire video game ecosystem, the creative arts, vlogging (IRL), and more. Twitch also runs TwitchCon, the annual convention for celebrating the Twitch community. For more information about Twitch, visit our Press Center, Twitter feed (#Twitch), and Blog.
About Twitter
Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is the best and fastest place to see what’s happening and what people are talking about all around the world. From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics, from big events to everyday interests. If it’s happening anywhere, it’s happening first on Twitter. Twitter is where the full story unfolds with all the live commentary and where live events come to life unlike anywhere else. Twitter is available in more than 40 languages around the world. The service can be accessed at twitter.com, on a variety of mobile devices and via SMS. For more information, visit about.twitter.com or follow @twitter.
About OREO Chocolate Candy Bar
The line of OREO Chocolate Candy Bars is the latest innovation to be released from the OREO Wonder Vault, the epicenter of cookie exploration where OREO taste-tests, taste-tests again (and again, and again…) its Wonderfilled creations before releasing them to the world. The new chocolate candy bar line comes in an assortment of different formats, all of which feature bits of OREO cookie and vanilla creme filling covered in European chocolate candy for a taste unlike anything else that’s currently in the U.S. The new OREO Chocolate Candy Bar line is a permanent offering featuring a delicious selection that crosses usage occasions, from individual enjoyment to friends and family sharing.
About OREO
OREO is the world’s favorite cookie, enjoyed by families and friends in more than 100 countries around the world. OREO is the best-selling cookie of the 21st century with nearly $2.9 billion in global annual revenues. The OREO cookie’s “TWIST LICK DUNK” ritual has become the signature way to enjoy this iconic cookie in many different cultures around the world. OREO has a Facebook community of more than 40 million OREO lovers around the globe, representing 200+ countries and dozens of different languages. OREO ranks among the top five brand Facebook pages in the world. OREO celebrated its 100th birthday on March 6, 2012. Visit www.OREO.com for more information.
About Mondelēz International
Mondelēz International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) is building the best snacking company in the world, with 2016 net revenues of approximately $26 billion. Creating more moments of joy in approximately 165 countries, Mondelēz International is a world leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy and powdered beverages, featuring global Power Brands such as OREO and belVita biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk and Milka chocolate; and Trident gum. Mondelēz International is a proud member of the Standard and Poor’s 500, NASDAQ 100 and Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Visit www.mondelezinternational.com or follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MDLZ.
