Video-sharing app Keek is ready for prime time.
With a freshly minted CEO, a new ad strategy and a celebrity endorsement from the Kardashians, the app for sharing short video snippets is looking to create some serious competition for Twitter’s Vine and Facebook’s Instagram.
Keek targets young users by making it easy to share 36-second video status updates — or “keeks.” While Vine sticks to six seconds and Instagram to 15 seconds, Keek falls into a sweet spot, according to CEO Alexandra Cameron.
“We are not a six-second glimpse or a 15-second glance or a five-minute episode. We are a peek,” Cameron told The Post. “You will see keek peeks take off in the US.”
Keek has 67.5 million subscribers around the globe, compared to 100 million for Twitter’s Vine.
Already the Kardashians top the most subscribed list on Keek. Younger Kardashian cum model Kendall Jenner leads with 2.4 million followers; older sister Kim Kardashian has 2.3 million, while Kylie Jenner is third with 2.2 million.
Several Kardashians have either tweeted or posted about Keek on Instagram, leading some to suspect that they’ve been paid to talk up the app.
Mar 17, 2014 | My package has arrived!!!! #Hairfinity by KimKardashian on Keek.com
While Cameron declined to say whether the family has any financial incentive, plenty of other celebrities have been posting keeks, including pop singer Ariana Grande and boy band 5 Seconds of Summer.
While Keek is enjoying its moment, it has been far from smooth sailing. Founded by Isaac Raichyk in 2011, the social-media platform stumbled after failing to attract enough investment capital, forcing it to lay off staff. Rather than taking the typical startup route, the Canadian company resorted to a reverse merger involving Pinetree Capital to go public.
“It’s been five months of heavy lifting,” Cameron, a former station manager at hip-hop radio’s Hot 97. “I was brought on board to assemble a management team and now we’re very close to launching an ad model.”
The video app is rolling out its money-making strategy this week under former Demand Media and AOL ad exec Bill Blummer.
The service has been testing ad units including so-called “native ads” — advertiser-generated content that is hard to distinguish from other kinds — as part of the Teen Choice Awards on Aug. 10, Cameron said.
MTV posted its first keek last weekend. The music channel’s current posts include one featuring Rita Ora shopping with “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland.
Meanwhile, Cameron has been busy ramping up the New York office, hiring former Emmis Communications exec Lin Dai, who worked at youth-centric media outfit Alloy as chief marketing officer.
Dai will take part in a session about how social video is changing the entertainment business at New York’s Advertising Week .
Cameron is expected to announce some major ad partnerships with Clear Channel’s iHeart Radio service and show “Saturday Night Online.”