Worldwide Pants Incorporated and NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution have announced a partnership with Merzigo to expand the digital distribution and monetisation of The Late Show with David Letterman library across global platforms.
The multi-year collaboration will use Merzigo’s proprietary technology to optimise and distribute 6,000 episodes from both Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman, spanning the years 1982 to 2015. Content will be made available across platforms including YouTube and Facebook, with enhancements aimed at improving archival footage for modern viewing environments. The companies will also work together to broaden global reach across multiple territories.
The franchise, which aired on NBC from 1982 to 1993 and on CBS from 1993 to 2015, features interviews with prominent figures from politics, film, music and comedy.
Walter Kim, Worldwide Pants Incorporated’s executive producer for digital, said: “David Letterman’s unparalleled run in late night, across four decades from his shows on NBC and CBS, contains 6,000 hours of some of the most memorable television content in pop culture history. As we continue to expand our distribution of these iconic moments on YouTube and Facebook, partnering with Merzigo will enable us to better reach fans and new viewers across every platform and device, delivering our thousands of videos in the best quality they have ever been seen.”
Dilip Bala, managing director, The Americas at Merzigo, said: “Our partnership with Worldwide Pants marks a significant step in unlocking the full digital potential of The Late Show with David Letterman. By combining Merzigo’s advanced technology and algorithm expertise with this iconic content, we aim to significantly enhance discoverability and deepen audience engagement across YouTube and Facebook. This collaboration enables us not only to introduce the show to new generations, but also to reimagine the viewing experience for long-time fans through platform-native optimisation and data-driven enhancements.”
Merzigo’s platform supports the creation of compilations, collages and stitched content, alongside optimisation of discoverability through enhanced visuals, multilingual dubbing, and refinements to search, filtering, thumbnails and metadata.
The agreement adds to Merzigo’s existing partnerships with premium IP holders in the US, including Hearst Media Production Group and Steve Harvey Global.
