HipMojo.com http://watchmojo.com/web/blog Covering Online Video, Web, Search, Investing, Technology, Strategy, Investing, M&A, Financing, VCs Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:40:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 en Viacom Yearns for the Smell of Napalm http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/02/12/viacom-yearns-for-the-smell-of-napalm/ http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/02/12/viacom-yearns-for-the-smell-of-napalm/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:16:35 +0000 Ashkan Karbasfrooshan Internet & WebManagementOnline AdvertisingViacomVideoYouTube http://watchmojo.com/web/blog/index.php/2008/02/12/viacom-yearns-for-the-smell-of-napalm/ Viacom has some of the strongest brands around. But these days, the only thing that is stronger than their brands is the foul smell emanating from their strategy’s skid marks. I should probably be praising the virtues of Viacom’s strategies (note: plural) because it’s the kind of company that might one day want to acquire a company like WatchMojo.com, but who are we kidding, Viacom is all over the place (full disclaimer: it’s only fair to admit that I actually contacted them in 2006 about a strategic investment in WatchMojo.com when their rival News Corp. was suing me for breathing - today, News Corp. is a partner of ours by virtue of WatchMojo.com providing video to their MySpace TV unit - I know, go figure).

Anyway, speaking of smells, media companies ought to take a cue from Apocalypse Now, a movie in which Airmobile Infantry Colonel Kilgore declared “I love the smell of napalm in the morning… It smells like… victory” following a nearby napalm strike.

Apocalypse Now was distributed by Paramount, which is incidentally owned by Viacom. That’s probably just a coincidence, because Viacom has had very few victories to speak of.

For a company as rich and well-positioned to dominate online, there’s nothing victorious smelling about Viacom’s strategy. Let’s count the many ways.

Viacom bought iFilm for a mere $49M. They bought Atom Entertainment for $200M. Between iFilm’s prowess in videos and Atom’s in animated movies, Viacom ought to be cleaning house in broadband entertainment, but all they seem to have to showcase is a disastrous $1B lawsuit against Google, who has more money than God.

Well, maybe not God, but at least more money than Viacom. Most importantly, as Viacom’s programming becomes forgotten and stale (thanks to an ill-fated writers’ strike where they showed why media moguls are media moguls), YouTube today commands the world’s attention when it comes to web video.

Today Viacom is brandying a new strategy. We won’t even take the time to dissect it, because come springtime - you know, when successful companies smell napalm - Viacom will have changed it and will be hawking something else.

Related:

- Viacom messes up MTV, loses MySpace
- Viacom vs. CBS - what was Sumner Redstone thinking

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