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 TimesEntertainment WeeklyThe New YorkerUSA TodayWIREDTechCrunch, 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, startup founder, and executive who has led original content for Duolingo since 2018, developing the company’s iconic cast of characters, live action and animated video, award-winning podcasts, and long-form learning content for the app’s more than 500 million learners worldwide. Previously, Tim was head of scripted programming for YouTube Originals, and one of the founding executives behind the strategy and creative direction for the YouTube Premium content offering. Programming from the scripted team included YouTube’s first hour-long dramas, Step Up: High Water (Lionsgate) and Impulse (Doug Liman/Universal), comedies Foursome (Awesomeness TV), and Single by 30 (Wong Fu/New Form), horror anthology 12 Deadly Days (Blumhouse), and action series Lifeline (from Corridor Digital, Studio 71 and Dwayne Johnson), as well as YouTube's first feature-length films including Lazer Team (Rooster Teeth) and The Thinning (Legendary), animated series Dallas & Robo and Bee and PuppyCat, and the smash hit Cobra Kai.

Previously, as director of the YouTube Next Lab and YouTube Spaces, Tim built the YouTube Creator program and launched projects to scale and develop YouTube’s creator ecosystem, including 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. Tim and his colleagues also developed over 200 funded channels of original content with creators such as Pharrell Williams, Amy Poehler, Jay-Z, Hank and John Green, and Felicia Day; launched groundbreaking video brands such as AwesomenessTV, I Am Other, Jash, VICE News, and Buzzfeed Video; and executive produced the YouTube Music Awards, with Spike Jonze and VICE Media. As reported in The Atlantic, Tim and his team popularized the term “creator” and the concept of a new creator economy, now valued at over $250 billion worldwide.

Prior to YouTube, Tim was co-founder and president of Next New Networks, raising over $26 million in funding from investors including Spark Capital and Goldman Sachs, and 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 branded and advertiser-supported online video channels, and pioneered the multi-channel network (MCN) business model and the concept of audience development, assembling at the time the most diverse and successful portfolio of original programming on the Internet, 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. They also built 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 Fast Company, The New York TimesThe New YorkerUSA TodayWIREDRolling Stone, TechCrunch, and AdWeek’s “The Young Influentials,” and in the books Extremely Online, Like, Comment, Subscribe, and Traffic, which recounts Tim’s days as an early blogger, where he posted what may have been the world’s first truly viral blog post, and inadvertently popularized the idea of reblogging, which became a core feature of Tumblr, Facebook, and the social web.

Tim’s over 25 years as a designer, producer, and creative executive have included projects in television, mobile, and the web: as a college undergrad 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 interactive TV experiences for NBC’s 2004 Olympics and for multiple seasons of NFL, NASCAR, and MLB on FOX Sports. His work as Proteus’ creative director also included campaigns for AT&T, Sony, Sprint, Newsweek, ExxonMobil and The Washington Post, and the creation of network-wide mobile entertainment offerings for HBO, ABC, Discovery, and FOX.