The Zooey Deschanel’s show that Facebook bankrolled is getting a bigger second season — thanks to a advertiser

Zooey
Deschanel will host another season of “Your Food’s Roots” with
Attn:.
Attn:

• Attn: has made a handful of Watch shows funded by
  Facebook — but its latest project is getting greenlit thanks to
  an advertiser.
• The publisher is working with The Farm Project on a
  second season of “Your Food’s Roots” to explore what goes into
  food.
• The series is not exclusive to Facebook and could live
  on other social platforms and streaming services “in the coming
  months.”

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Digital media company Attn: is
most well-known for its short, viral videos that break down
complex social issues like climate change into easy to understand
clips.

For example, a video of former California governor and actor
Arnold Schwarzenegger pressing President Trump’s efforts to
rescue the coal industry is one of the most popular videos on its
main
Facebook Page currently — and has amassed 30 million
views since it was posted on June 28.

So it’s no surprise then that the company has pumped resources
into Facebook Watch, making nine to 10 programs over the past
year. Some of those series have been funded by Facebook but the
company’s latest Watch project is paid for by an advertiser and
not necessarily exclusive to Facebook, said Jarrett Moreno,
co-founder of Attn:

Attn: is putting its own spin on the food craze

The publisher is making a second season of “Your Food’s Roots,” a
show that examines what’s in food and how sustainability and
healthy eating impact how people choose to eat. The series is a
joint partnership between Attn: and The Farm Project, a
initiative started by actress Zooey Deschanel and Jacob
Pechenik that educates consumers on growing and eating local
foods.

The first five-episode season racked up 30 million views, 25
million minutes of watch time and 335,000 followers, according to
Moreno. 15 million of those views alone came from one episode
about the difference between whole-grain and white bread.

The show was originally funded by Facebook in its first season as
part of the platform’s push into original content. For the second
season, Attn: nabbed an advertiser to pay for the show instead:
Garden of Life, a nutrition and supplement company.

“We had been exploring something in the food space that would be
an interesting complement to what people see on social feeds and
on TV,” Moreno said. “The realization was that people have never
known less about food and how it’s grown.”

The show is hosted by Deschanel and each episode explains what
goes into making foods like honey, olive oil and lettuce in four
to five minutes.

“We had thought about doing a more traditional form — like maybe
through a Netflix or Amazon series — but we thought doing
something more short form hits our audience,” said Pechenik. “It
matches the common attention span for people these days.”

Getting an advertiser to back it increased production costs
significantly

Moreno declined to say how much Garden of Life paid for the
series but said that the second season “included a larger
production budget,” compared to what Facebook paid for the first
season. “Third-party sponsors are bigger contracts.”

As part of the bigger production costs, the team was able to
travel to Texas for shooting in addition to California, where the
first season was filmed.

Attn: is also working on Facebook Shows that are underwritten by
Facebook, including “We Need to Talk” — a year-old dating series
hosted by couple Nev Schulman and Laura Perlongo — and
a weekly news program called “Undivided Attention.”

With “Your Food’s Roots,” Moreno said the show is not exclusive
to Facebook, meaning that the publisher may shop it around to
other social platforms and streaming services.

“For now, the initial release is on Facebook but it won’t be
exclusive to Facebook so this will live on other platforms in the
coming months,” he said.