] HipMojo.com » Traditional Media Bets on Online Video Rare and Scarce

Traditional Media Bets on Online Video Rare and Scarce

On television, hits were choreographed, promoted and crammed down viewers’ throats.  Eventually, some of those efforts stuck and a hit was born.

I don’t think that works online.  Be it text content or in video format, it’s very hard to plan and forecast when something will become a hit.  This is why traditional media companies and their hits creation approach to web video content strikes me as odd.  A couple things that ensure that many of these efforts are doomed:

- “We won’t greenlight until we have brands lined up who want to be in the show,” said Cameron Death, VP of NBC Universal Digital Studio.

Problem with this: advertisers have wildly different objectives than creators of content, so just because an advertiser will sign off on a show does not mean the show will be successful.  At the extreme of this spectrum, I doubt South Park would have been created if the makers had adopted that philosophy.

- Landing a celebrity is becoming de rigeur, too, because a star brings in a ready-made audience. Look for more Web shows to do this. The creators behind The Writers Room on Crackle told me recently that in order for Crackle to pick up a second season the show will need a heavy celebrity cameo quotient.

Problem with this: most celebrities still view the Web as a step back (not wrong, technically) so waiting for a big name to sign off might mean waiting quite a while.

The bottom line is this: traditional media companies just don’t want to risk a single thing when it comes to online video, and the underlying reason is simple: it threatens their traditional, offline business.  This works fine by me, while many of these companies sit on the sidelines, it allows made-for-web content creators like us to build large libraries, at a lower cost mind you, and gain relevance to advertisers who don’t always want to sign off on things beforehand (ie. take on risk) either.

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Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Aug 16th

2 Responses to “Traditional Media Bets on Online Video Rare and Scarce”

  1. Daisy Whitney Says:
    August 17th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    I’m not sure all Celebs see the web as a step back. I think some see the web as a chance to express themselves creatively in ways they can’t in other venues.

  2. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan Says:
    August 17th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

    Not all, that’s for sure. Also agree that many of the younger ones think it’s hip and what not… but if the money isn’t there… all the cool factor alone won’t help Hollywood talent migrate online… and reading what the blokes at Crackle say, that’s not good news.

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