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MySpace signs brands for Freak MySpace has signed up Red Bull and Tampax as sponsors for its latest web series, which first came to light in January when it began pitching the FremantleMedia production to advertisers. The news comes as the social network begins the hunt for a new CEO after parent News Corp confirmed that Tom DeWolfe is stepping down, and that it's also in discussions with fellow co-founder Tom Anderson about his future.  MySpace has had mixed fortunes with its original online commissions. In the US, Quarterlife entered the history books as the first web-to-TV crossover, but subsequently bombed on NBC.Beyond the Rave, a revival of the Hammer Horror brand in the UK, was widely regarded as a hit, but another project, I Love Chieftown, has yet to see the light of day. Live and Lost, meanwhile, a BlackBerry-funded miniseries involving Channel 4 and Island Records, recently concluded its 12-episode run, with its highest-rating instalment registering just over 54,000 views. New teen drama Freak, from FremantleMedia cross-platform division FMX, will debut on MySpace UK this summer and will run for 13 weeks, with eight episodes including video shot in HD. MySpace began pitching the project to advertisers in January, and while Red Bull and Tampax parent Procter & Gamble has now come on board, the company is still seeking other brands to integrate. MySpace UK and Ireland MD Anthony Lukom told C21 recently there are "a number of other things bubbling under, including working with independent as well as established production companies." In a statement today he said that getting Red Bull and Procter & Gamble on board Freak was "testament to the strength of the proposition." DeWolfe recently signaled that there would have to be more emphasis on video in future as MySpace seeks to keep users on the site longer to help it hit its revenue targets, but whether News Corp's new chief digital officer, Jonathan Miller, agrees remains to be seen. Fremantle's production and enterprises divisions have already produced a number of original new media projects for MySpace in the US, Germany and Australia, but Freak is its first for the social network in the UK. The green light is a boost for FMX in the territory, where the division was unable to get its planned online comedy drama Parentshood off the ground with NBC Universal-owned women's internet portal iVillage.co.uk. For more on how MySpace's approach to original online video is evolving click here for C21Media's two-part interview with Anthony Lukom, which published earlier this week as part of our ongoing RE-vision special season of articles. Jonathan Webdale 23 Apr 2009 © C21 Media 2009 
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