timothy shey

Bio

Timothy Shey has been one of YouTube’s key creative executives, helping develop the platform’s leading creators, partners, and channels, since his company Next New Networks was acquired by Google in March 2011. Most recently, Tim was a founding executive of the YouTube Originals team, developing the go-to-market strategy and creative direction for the YouTube Red subscription offering, and heading up efforts to create YouTube’s slate of scripted originals. Scripted programming developed and launched by the team to date include the series Foursome (Awesomeness TV), Single by 30 (Wong Fu/New Form), 12 Deadly Days(Blumhouse), Rhett & Link’s Buddy System and Me and My Grandma, as well as features Lazer Team (Rooster Teeth) and The Thinning (Legendary), with many more in production including YouTube’s first hour-long dramas, Step Up (Lionsgate) and Impulse(Doug Liman/UCP), action series Lifeline (from Corridor Digital, Studio 71 and Dwayne Johnson), and a new scripted comedy from Dan Harmon (Community, Rick and Morty).

Previously, Tim was director of the YouTube Next Lab and YouTube Spaces, where Tim led projects to scale and develop YouTube’s creator ecosystem including creative development and experience design of the YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and New York; the Creator Playbook, sharing the secrets to success on YouTube; YouTube Rewards, with the iconic gold play button; developing over 200 funded channels of original content with creators such as Pharrell Williams, Amy Poehler, Jay-Z, Felicia Day, and Chris Hardwick which launched hit video properties Nerdist, Geek & Sundry, AwesomenessTV, I Am Other, VICE, and Buzzfeed Video, among many others; and executive producing the first-ever YouTube Music Awards in November 2013, with Spike Jonze and VICE.

Prior to YouTube, Tim was co-founder and president of Next New Networks, leading the company’s creative and platform development. Next New Networks pioneered the practice of audience development and the multi-channel network (MCN) business model, assembling at the time the most diverse and successful portfolio of original programming on the Internet, including hit channels Barely Political, VSauce, ThreadBanger, Indy Mogul, Channel Frederator and Fast Lane Daily and a network of over 100 independent creators such as The Gregory Brothers, racking up over 2 billion video views and thirteen Webby Awards, more than any online media company at the time. They also built long term, industry-leading partnerships with companies such as AOL, YouTube, and MSN and blue-chip advertisers including Warner Bros, American Express, Verizon, and Unilever. Tim’s favorite review was probably this one.

Tim and his work have been featured in places like The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The New Yorker, USA Today, WIRED, TechCrunch, and AdWeek’s “The Young Influentials.” Tim’s twenty years as a designer and producer have included projects in television, mobile, and the web: in 1996, Tim co-founded Proteus, a pioneering interactive agency, which was responsible for the first-ever nationwide interactive TV broadcast using mobile phones during FOX’s Super Bowl XXXVI, and produced mobile phone-based interactive TV experiences for NBC’s 2004 Olympics and four seasons of NFL, NASCAR, and MLB on FOX Sports. His work as Proteus’ creative director also included major interactive campaigns for AT&T, Sony, Sprint, Newsweek, ExxonMobil, The Washington Post, Gibson, and Motorola, and network-wide mobile content offerings for HBO, ABC, Discovery, and FOX. 

Tim’s personal blog is at http://shey.net; you can also find Tim at twitter.com/moth.

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Timothy Shey is a producer, designer, and technology and media executive who most recently led original content for Duolingo, developing the company’s iconic cast of characters, award-winning podcasts, and long-form learning content, and serving nearly six years on Duolingo’s leadership team as they grew to a publicly traded company and household name brand with over 80 million monthly active users worldwide. Previously, Tim was head of scripted programming at YouTube and one of the founding execs of YouTube Originals, the company’s premium content offering, developing and overseeing the company’s slate of animated and live action comedy series, hourlong dramas, and feature-length films.

As director of the YouTube Next Lab and YouTube Spaces, Tim launched the scaled YouTube Creator program and projects to develop YouTube’s creator ecosystem, including YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and New York; the Creator Playbook; and YouTube Rewards, with the iconic gold play button. Tim also worked on developing over 200 channels of original content with creators such as Pharrell Williams, Amy Poehler, Jay-Z, Hank and John Green, and Felicia Day and groundbreaking video brands like AwesomenessTV, VICE News, and Buzzfeed Video, and executive produced the YouTube Music Awards with Spike Jonze and VICE Media. Tim and his colleagues popularized the term “creator” and launched programs to enable and develop the wider creator economy, now valued at over $250 billion worldwide.

Prior to YouTube, Tim was co-founder and president of Next New Networks, leading creative and product development for the company until it was acquired by Google in 2011. Next New Networks popularized the ideas of videoblogging and advertiser-supported online video, and pioneered the multi-channel network (MCN) business model and the concept of audience development, assembling a diverse and successful portfolio of original programming including hit channels Barely Political, VSauce, and ThreadBanger, and a network of independent creators such as The Gregory Brothers—racking up over 2 billion video views and thirteen Webby Awards, more than any online media company at the time. Tim’s favorite review was probably this one.

Tim and his work have been featured in places like Fast Company, The New York Times, The New Yorker, USA Today, WIRED, Rolling Stone, TechCrunch, and AdWeek’s “The Young Influentials,” and in the books Extremely Online, Like, Comment, Subscribe, and Traffic.

In college, Tim co-founded Proteus, an early interactive agency which was responsible for the first-ever nationwide interactive TV broadcast using mobile phones, during FOX’s Super Bowl, and interactive TV experiences for FOX Sports, The View, and the Olympics on NBC. His work as Proteus’ creative director included campaigns for Sony, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and The Washington Post, and the creation of mobile entertainment offerings for HBO, ABC, FOX, Discovery, and CollegeHumor.