Thursday, August 9, 2007

Dallas-based GodTube.com officially launches, hopes to capitalize on faith-based Jesus 2.0 internet craze

By Pegasus News wire

DALLAS — GodTube.com today announced its official launch and is already attracting more than 500,000 unique visitors per month -- connecting with millions of young people online as their traditional church attendance plummets. In this new online migration of Christians, dubbed "Jesus 2.0" by GodTube.com CEO, Christopher Wyatt, GodTube.com has become a leading online community -- bringing together Christians from around the world -- to upload, share, watch and comment on Christian content. The fast-growing video sharing site, GodTube.com is tapping into one of the largest underserved markets in the world through its Christian-centered video content.

According to Wyatt, there is a steady decline in attendance with a growing trend around the nation of young people in their 20's and 30's disappearing from the physical church. Godtube.com claims that in 1990, 20.4% of the population attended an Orthodox Christian church on the weekend. In 2000, that percentage declined to 18.7%, and to 17.7% by 2004. By the year 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be approximately 10%.

Photo not provided by Godtube.com, Gary Larson

Godtube.com already has some powerful fans

According to a recent Pew Internet Study, more than 82 million Americans use the Internet for faith-related reasons, which is more than the number of online bankers or online daters.

"It just goes to show you how much interest there is in religion online," explains Christopher Wyatt, founder and CEO of GodTube.com "While the traditional church membership is shrinking, people are flocking to web sites like GodTube.com as a stop gap to find answers."

Wyatt has created an online community dedicated to reaching Internet users worldwide. A former Hollywood producer whose career spans over 17 years of success in the Internet and television industries, Wyatt moved to Dallas to attend seminary school where he had the inspiration for GodTube.com and developed the original design. Since its beta form went live in January 2007, GodTube.com has offered a diverse array of content ranging from sermons to humorous youth-oriented videos. The company has also become the largest global provider of Christian programming broadcasting over 3000 hours of Christian video each day on the Internet, which is equivalent to 18 weeks of television programming.

GodTube.com aims to connect Christians worldwide by using the latest in Web 2.0 technologies made popular by websites such as YouTube and MySpace. Allowing users the ability to upload video and broadcast it to anyone on the Internet, forty percent of all traffic to-date is international, spanning everywhere from China to Croatia.

"It's going to change the way that people look both at church and broadcasting forever," says Wyatt. "Now you can get answers to life's greatest questions or engage in a debate about your faith at any time of the day."

Source: Godtube.com

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