Vin Di Bona, creator of "America’s Funniest Home Videos," has partnered with veteran branding and business executive Bruce Gersh to launch FishBowl Worldwide Media.
Di Bona is chairman and Gersh is president-CEO of the new Los Angeles-based venture, which aims to develop properties for film and television as well as emerging platforms.
In partnership with marketers, digital companies and advertising agencies, as well as the traditional Hollywood creative community, FishBowl will focus on projects that are innovative, novel and creative, with an emphasis on building brand value.
In a statement, Di Bona said: “FishBowl Worldwide Media provides me the opportunity to start a new creative chapter focusing on projects that are both commercial and, like ‘AFHV,’ years ahead of the curve. As global media tastes change on what seems like a daily basis, this is a perfect time for identifying, reacting and capitalizing on those short windows of opportunity, and who better to join with than Bruce Gersh, who has been at the forefront of many of the changes taking place.”
Di Bona “saw value in user-generated content long before it became a buzzword and recognized the importance of owning his own content,” said Gersh in a statement. “As a result, FishBowl Worldwide Media is investing in media while so many other companies are cutting back.”
Vin Di Bona Productions will continue to operate separately as the production company for "America’s Funniest Home Videos."
Vin Di Bona is a four-time Emmy Award-winning producer and recipient of the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for his work in documentary programming.
Before joining FishBowl, Gersh was senior VP of strategy and operations for intellectual property at the William Morris Agency. Before that, he spent eight years at Disney-ABC, most recently as senior VP of business development, Disney-ABC Television Group.
