Last year we saw a barrage of How To sites: 5Min.com, Howcast.com, VideoJug, just to name a few.  This all on the heels of Demand Media’s acquisition of eHow.com, the market leader in the space.

Last year we also saw the rise of comedy sites: Will Ferrell’s funny or die being one example, MyDamnChannel another.   While Funny or Die and MyDamnChannel initially started off as content creators, they’ve now turned to other producers to scale.  Companies that from the get-go looked for UGC continued to grow: Lions Gate made an investment in Break.com validating the space, since launching numerous derivative properties, too.
Today we see Viacom tossing its hat in the ring, too, leveraging Atom.com and Comedy Central to create a multi-platform opportunity in the comedy space.

Will Atom.com be successful?  We shall see, as Silicon Alley points out:

The site inherits 1.9 million monthly uniques from Atom Films, the company said. We hope for Atom’s sake, and for Break.com, Metacafe, Stupidvideos, Heavy.com, FunnyOrDie, Comedy.com, etc, that there are enough funny shorts and young, bored guys to go around.

With YouTube now garnering a gargantuan 75% market share in the video space, no wonder you are seeing aspirants in the aggregation/distribution tackle the space with a vertical approach.  Unlike you are backed by two of the leading media companies and armed with $100M in financing - as Hulu was - it makes little sense to dive deep into the storm.

It’s thus no surprise to see Viacom learn from FunnyorDie and MyDamnChannel and immediately turn to outside producers from the get-go:

Atom.com will share a percentage of ad revenue with creators that achieve “pro” status.

I will take a look at the site.  Considering that we publish 10 comedy clips per month, it might be one additional spot for us to syndicate clips to.

Viacom is also borrowing from one of their old ideas: Web Junk, by taking some of the web highlights and taking them on TV.  That was something Viacom did by combining its iFilm acquisition (bought for $49M) with VH1.

That’s something I especially like about this is the fact that some clips “may also get on TV: Comedy Central launched “Atom TV,” a half-hour series airing Monday nights at 2 a.m.”

2am?  WTF… well, beggars can’t be choosers… this would help us realize our dream of turning the WatchMojo.com Comedy Troup into the 21st century version of Mad TV or SNL…

Let’s hope this initiative - built on the $200M Atom Entertainment acquisition - turns out to be more successful.

To check out WatchMojo.com comedy segments, skits, fake ads and much more on the following spots:

- WatchMojo.com
- MySpace TV
- YouTube
- Hulu
- as well as countless others.