Video debate site Friction.TV hits 250,000 visitors as it goes from public beta to full launch

London June 7, 2007 – Friction.TV, (www.friction.tv), the online speakers’ corner, has released its full public site after a three-month beta period. A video-sharing site, dedicated to the principle of freedom of speech, users can upload videos of themselves commenting on a specific issue, no matter how controversial. Friction TV uses the increasingly popular video sharing format to give everyone a voice and a platform to air their views.

Friction.TV has achieved significant traffic figures through its public beta phase. The site has quickly gained in popularity through word of mouth, attracting more than 250,000 unique visitors and more than two million page impressions during the initial three month public testing period. In addition, Friction.TV users are viewing an average of eight videos per session browsing videos and text content.

Andy West, Chief Marketing Officer, commented, “We initially wanted to test the idea of Friction.TV by seeding it publicly through word of mouth. The response has been fantastic with viewers clearly welcoming the opportunity to voice opinions in an uncensored, easy accessible way. Our aim now is to encourage as many people as possible to have their say on issues they are passionate about. We firmly believe that our video debating format will prove extremely popular with students, adults and senior citizens alike, because ultimately everyone has an opinion and most of us want to share it!”

Simplicity of design and ease of use are the keys to the success of the site and the search function allows visitors to go straight to videos under specific tags. The debate thread is also easy to follow with videos and text responses arranged under the original video in order of appearance.

A number of public figures and organisations, including Boris Johnson, LBC radio presenter Nick Ferrari, Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Transport 2000 and CND UK are already featured on the site voicing their thoughts. As the site is unedited, people can get their message across without the fear of being misquoted. Recently, UKIP MEP Gerard Batten used the site to challenge the ‘Strangers into Citizens’ campaign which seeks to legalise irregular immigrants already working in Britain.

With no editorial agenda, the site is largely uncensored and every viewpoint can be heard, no matter how strong or controversial. The site is viewer moderated, so any inappropriate content that crosses the boundaries of decency or that contravenes any law can be removed. The concept of Friction.TV is simple: to voice an opinion on any issue be it of local, national or global importance, viewers log in to the site and upload content filmed from their video camera, web cam or mobile phone. Other viewers can then choose to participate in the debate by uploading a video response or leaving a comment in writing.

Friction.TV was founded to provide an antidote to mainstream media by delivering challenging – and sometimes raw – opinion from all sections of society. The site is founded on a belief that everyone has a right to voice an opinion no matter what it is.

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For more information please contact:

Amy Collie

Cohn & Wolfe

020 7331 5334

amy_collie@uk.cohnwolfe.com

Jenny Roberts

Cohn & Wolfe

020 7331 5473

jenny_roberts@uk.cohnwolfe.com



About Friction.TV (www.friction.tv)

Friction.TV is an online platform for user generated news, opinion and debate. Anyone with an opinion on virtually any issue can post a video blog of between 30 seconds and 3 minutes to the site. This then sparks others into action: either to agree; to put across a different view; or just to debate the point. The site is not censored (as long as everything remains within the law) and is free – Friction.TV does not charge people to upload content. Friction.TV is an alternative to the sanitised views of the conventional mass media as it delivers the opinions of genuine people in an unedited, uninhibited and necessarily challenging way. Currently there are 12 channels on Friction.TV: Politics, Education, Environment, Health, Society, Local Issues, Sport, My Life, Lord Tramp, Business, Entertainment and Technology. Friction.TV is the brainchild of Omer Shaikh, a former MD of Saatchi & Saatchi digital media agency Red Kite in partnership with ex-Text 100 director, Andy West.