Bell Media invests $5M in Canadian digital start-up Hubub

The Hubub homepage is seen in this screen shot. Bell Media says it has invested $5 million in the Canadian social media start-up, and has committed "millions more" to growing the platform in Canada.

Bell Media has invested $5 million in Canadian social-media start-up Hubub, the company announced Wednesday, and has committed “millions more” to grow the site across Canada.

Hubub.com is currently in beta, but a newly designed site for the general public and apps for iPhone and Android will launch later this fall. The platform hosts channels, or “hububs,” that include stories, images, videos, blogs, polls and other content on specific topics ranging from politics to entertainment to sports-- and everything in between. Users can join or follow different hububs, and create their own.

The Toronto-based company announced earlier this year that it had secured more than $8 million in funding from private investors to continue building the product.

Bell Media, which owns CTV News, has acquired an equity stake in Hubub, Inc., as well as the exclusive rights to monetize Hubub in Canada.

Bell Media President Kevin Crull called the opportunity to invest in a Canadian start-up “pretty exciting.”

“What’s different for us is that their platform complements traditional media. It’s an extension of traditional media that allows the relatively limited one-way engagement that we have with viewers and listeners in TV and radio to be much more interactive, much more engaging and expansive,” Crull told CTVNews.ca.

“And as a media company, we are seeing the amount of time that our audiences are spending on these sites, and we wanted to take a crack at being a part of one that could be really big.”

Bell Media will commit “significant marketing resources” to grow Hubub across the country, and will create hububs for its personalities and brands including CTV, CTV News, TSN/RDS, The Movie Network/HBO Canada, Space, Super Ecran and Canal Vie.

“It’s a much better place for our talent to engage with their audiences rather than just a website or Twitter,” Crull said.

The company will also integrate proprietary Hubub technology into its existing digital properties.

“The power of a platform like this is in its network effect,” Crull said. “The more people that engage in it, the more people that contribute to it, the better it becomes. And it grows that way.”

Hubub founder and CEO Peter L. Corsell said the company is “honoured” to partner with Bell Media, adding that the site is designed to complement traditional media content.

“We believe that content is king,” Corsell told CTVNews.ca. “And our whole thought process in creating Hubub is something that would re-invigorate, re-contextualize years’ worth of traditional media content.”

Hubub incorporates elements that will be familiar to users of Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and other social media sites, Corsell noted.

Ultimately, the site allows users to choose topics of interest and find a mix of traditional media and user-generated content.

“Hubub is meant to be the place to go for the information you need and the conversation you want,” Corsell said. “To explore and discuss the interests that you have.”