Legally sharing clips from your favorite TV shows and music videos has just gotten easier. Meet Whipclip, a mobile app which has secured licensing from an impressive number of TV and music partners including Comedy Central, ABC, CBS, Fox, VH1, Lifetime, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music. And while it just launched its iPhone app in March, the company just raised $40 million in financing. The basis of the app, said Whipclip exec Richard Rosenblatt, is to provide an easy way for TV watchers to share segments of shows with friends.
Rosenblatt initially came up with the idea while wanting to share a clip of Seattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman but was only able to find a user-generated smartphone clip. “It was one of those ideas that you just look at and wonder, ‘Why when I’m watching TV, can I not share it right then and there?” he said to The New York Times. “It’s amazing how broken the music-TV-online system is.”
After launching Whipclip, the app allows users to create clips from the last two minutes of a currently-airing show, as well as any shows that have already aired. While it’s still expanding its catalog, popular programs like Bob’s Burgers, Charlie Rose, Dancing with the Stars, and New Girl are currently available in the app. After creating your two minute clip, it can be posted to Facebook, Twitter and shared within the Whipclip app.
The company has partnered with 25 publishers, including USA Today and International Business Times, to allow them to post legal video clips in their online content. For example, USA Today’s entertainment blog used Whipclip as part of a recap of The Bachelorette. They’re hoping media partnerships will bolster their still-developing user base.
Upcoming for Whipclip are an Android app, more media partners, and future revenue-making strategies like advertising and promoted clips.
