Nerdist’s Laderman goes to Comic-Con

Legendary Digital and Nerdist Industries exec Seth Laderman has been named exec VP and general manger of the forthcoming Comic-Con International SVoD service.

Seth Laderman

The service, co-created by US studio Lionsgate and Comic-Con International, will launch in the first quarter of 2016.

Laderman will be charged with programming the service, which will include original shortform content created exclusively for subscribers, as well as films and TV series from Lionsgate and other studios.

The service will also include exclusive archive footage from Comic-Con’s history, as the event looks to build on its reputation as the largest comic book convention in the world.

“We intend to differentiate our service through the depth and diversity of its content, the quality of its curation and the joys of discovering its rich mix of programming,” said Jim Packer, president of worldwide television and digital distribution at Lionsgate.

Lederman was previously head of production at Legendary Digital and Nerdist Industries, a multiplatform creator of genre and pop culture content. He helped to spearhead the digital growth of Nerdist Industries as the YouTube premium content initiative was getting under way.

He was also senior VP for the newly launched Legendary Digital Networks after Legendary Pictures acquired Nerdist in 2012.

Comic-Con International will enter a fiercely competitive US VoD market, where only yesterday Hulu added Showtime’s new standalone OTT service to its subscription line-up.