sign in sign up
<<
Home , Broad City, Comedy Central Roast, Inside Amy Schumer, South Park, The Daily Show, Workaholics

VIACOM INTERNATIONAL MEDIA NETWORKS LAUNCHES AUSTRALIAN CENTRAL WEBSITE

A BESPOKE DIGITAL DESTINATION FEATURING CONTENT FROM THE WORLD’S #1 COMEDY BRAND

www.comedycentral.com.au

Wednesday 13th January, 2016

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has announced that it will expand its portfolio of brands in Australia, which currently includes MTV and , with the launch of a website. The site delivers exclusive local editorial and video content, as well as a catalogue of video highlights from hit international Comedy Central titles at comedycentral.com.au.

The local Comedy Central team will operate out of the VIMN headquarters in East Sydney. The newly appointed digital editor, Cyrus Bezyan, will oversee editorial for the website with Joshua Duncan appointed as Comedy Central digital manager, both reporting into Simon Bates, Head of MTV & Comedy Central, Australia & New Zealand.

Comedycentral.com.au features a catalogue of , satirical articles and original content, spearheaded by digital editor, Cyrus Bezyan. A seasoned and screenwriter, Cyrus has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival and Splendour in the Grass Music Festival, and was a national finalist in 2014 Triple J RAW. A man of many talents, Cyrus also recently performed a sell-out season of his stand-up show Reluctant Confidence Man at the 2015 Sydney Comedy Festival, launched the show Conspiracy Theories at The Chaser’s Giant Dwarf Theatre and has written for several TV shows.

Throughout the year, comedycentral.com.au is set to launch local video content featuring Australian , YouTube stars, sketch groups and live comedy events. The first official commission scheduled for early 2016 is the Australian absurdist sketch group, Aunty Donna. The Melbourne based trio consisting of Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane have performed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival. In 2015, they were one of five comedy groups chosen as part of the ABC and Screen Australia's Fresh Blood Season joint initiative.

“We’re very excited to be working with local comedians and have been blown away by the quality of Australian comedic talent” said Simon Bates, Vice President, Head of MTV & Comedy Central, Australia & New Zealand. “Comedy Central is the biggest comedy brand in the world and continues to produce some of the most memorable and shareable comedy content. We’re looking forward to featuring some of the biggest names from our roster alongside up and coming local comic legends on one platform.”

In addition to locally created and curated content, Australian users can access highlights from Comedy Central smash hits such as Inside , , , , Key & Peele, , and more. The website also contains pages dedicated to stand-up comedy and the world famous Comedy Central , where fans catch up on the most hilarious and brutal moments from the roasting of such as , , and .

The Comedy Central website is organised into a variety of editorial categories:

 Actual News delivers topical entertainment news  Fat Cats explores business and politics  Human People focuses on human behaviour and lifestyle  Other categories include Bench Warmers, (because there’s not enough sports coverage in the world) Technophobes, for science geeks and Taste Bud, a cooking craze parody.

The site also showcases exclusive full episodes of Comedy Central web-series straight from the U.S. These digital only productions are part of Comedy Central’s development pipeline known as ‘Not For TV’ which has resulted in shows such as the highly successful series Broad City. MCN will be managing advertising sales for the Comedy Central website alongside other VIMN brands in Australia. Suzie Cardwell, MCN Digital Partnerships and Product Development Director, said: “MCN is excited to represent the advertising interests of the new Comedy Central website as Viacom continues to grow their digital video footprint into Australia. As the creators of the best broadcast quality comedy content in the world, it delivers advertisers amazing opportunities within a brand safe digital platform. We look forward to helping brands connect to such a well-known international brand on a local scale.”

###

PRESS CONTACTS:

Natasha Leivers | PR & Communications Manager| [email protected] | +61 2 9921 0210

Ebany Draper | Publicist| [email protected]|+61 2 9921 0223

About Comedy Central: Comedy Central is the world’s only all-comedy network and has an estimated global audience of over 250 million. It is responsible for some of the biggest comedy hits of all time. Comedy Central, now in its 25th year, has built a diverse, global business by putting funny first in everything it does. Comedy Central’s worldwide portfolio contains more than 20 channels spanning across New Zealand, USA, UK, , Europe, Asia, South and Africa.

About Viacom International Media Networks: Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), is comprised of many of the world’s most popular multimedia entertainment brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, VH1, VIVA, COLORS, Channel 5, Spike, and Tr3s: MTV, Música y Más. Viacom brands are seen globally in more than 3.7 billion cumulative households in approximately 180 territories and 43 languages via more than 250 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 550 digital media and mobile TV properties. Keep up with VIMN news by visiting the VIMN PR feed at www.twitter.com/VIMN_PR. For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com, blog.viacom.com and the Viacom Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Viacom.