The Stifler -- er, Mr. Scott
Seann William Scott — better known as Steve Stifler of the raunchy '90s comedy American Pie — joins male entertainment site Heavy.com as co-host of The Burly Sports Show, a weekly round-up of all things sporting.
"This goes beyond a sponsorship," boasted CEO Simon Assaad of Heavy.com (via MediaPost). "What we have in mind here is a 'Saturday Night Live' model, where we bring in a featured celebrity every week to promote something they're working on, and create entertaining content at the same time."
Scott's stint as online anchorman will also promote the actor's upcoming film, "Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story," released by Sony Home Entertainment.
Assaad expressed his belief that the inclusion of celebrities points to online video's growth as a medium. "We're continuing to position Heavy as a leader in the online video space, and the fact that a movie studio" — in this case, Sony Entertainment — "is investing so much marketing energy into this medium shows how far we've come," Assaad stated.
In a reverse take on this philosophy, many celebrities that found fame online are increasingly approached by traditional networks seeking to build clout in largely-insular online communities.
HBO recently launched an online drama peppered with YouTube "cewebrities" — including Jessica Rose, better known as "lonelygirl15." And in 2006, Amanda Congdon — ex-host of video blog Rocketboom — made her network TV debut on Disney's ABC News Now, a 24-hour digital channel for ABC.
Scott appears on The Burly Sports Show on January 9. The episode will be syndicated to CBSSports.com and Verizon V-Cast, in addition to the Heavy Men's Network, which launched in March. Heavy.com itself serves 20 million users per month, according to the company.
In October 2008, Heavy cut 12 employees, or 14% of its staff. Four months prior, it reduced its labor force from 105 employees to 80.
But Assaad is optimistic about the company's outlook for '09. "Q1 is looking good for us, we expect to be profitable by then, or by Q2," he said.
