Archive for May 2nd, 2007
Prom Queen Draws a Crowd
I must admit I have watched all 31 episodes released so far of Prom Queen, though I live in fear of getting caught with the melodramatic high schoolers on my laptop screen. The 90-second format is thoroughly addicting, and besides, I’m “working.”
Turns out I’m not the only one who keeps tuning in. The series gets about 200,000 views per day, according to figures provided to MediaWeek. Prom Queen totaled 5.2 million views since April 2, with 3.7 million of those on MySpace. The show’s MySpace pages, which are updated with blog posts and videos from the characters, have added 18,000 friends.
Doug Cheney, a creator, writer, and director of Prom Queen, told us the creators’ previous series, Sam Has 7 Friends, had gotten something like 2 million views in total over its own 80 episodes run, so it seems the Michael Eisner hype and distribution power is working. Any of the guilty 200,000 viewers per day want to share here why they like it?
Sell Your Content With Cruxy 1.0
After six months online, Cruxy announced its full 1.0 site version release. The Brooklyn-based company features the hippest of hipster lifestyle content from Blue Note records’ the bird and the bee to a series of instructional breakdancing videos from Elastic Illusion.
Cruxy aims to be the artist’s car trunk online — a place where creators can go to sell content directly to their fans from anywhere between $0.25 to $25 and keep up to 70 percent or more of the sale as pure profit. Cruxy sells images, text and audio, as well as video.
Could Digg Revolt Come to Video Sites?
Digg users, unhappy with the company’s compliance with a DMCA takedown request on the codes to break HD-DVD encryption, flooded and overwhelmed the social news site with stories containing the code, until its front page was filled entirely with references to the hack (visualization embedded below). Digg, whose premise is based on not controlling what happens on its site, capitulated last night, telling users,
We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.
By this morning, it’s become cliche to say this was a turning point in user-generated content. But we wonder, what would happen if users revolted on a video-sharing sites, most of which are precariously balanced on key turns of DMCA phrase?
Of course, most video sites don’t have such a homogeneous and self-identified culture. And encryption keys are clearly little bits of information that seem impossible to contain once they hit the internet. But the core tenets are there: users submit content, and use social tools to find and elevate the stuff they like. If YouTube users submitted copyrighted content en masse, would Google delete all their accounts?
Blockbuster Posts Loss, But Gains Online
Blockbuster posted its biggest loss in six quarters Wednesday amid waning store revenues and heavy investment in its online channel.
“Our results were impacted by our investment in the growth of Blockbuster Total Access and by an extremely tough in-store rental market,” CEO John Antioco told the Associated Press in a statement. That’s code for: “Our stores aren’t doing very well and we’re betting big that online will save us.”
Betting big, indeed. Bloomberg reports that the company increased ad spend by 95% to lure away Netfilx subscribers. So is the investment online paying off? It looks like it might be.
UndoTV Is Not Yet TechTV
For those hoping to see Leo, Chris, and the rest of the TechTV gang back together in all their telegenic geeky glory, the wait will be a bit longer. Multimedia channel creator, PikSpot, in a scramble out of the gate, finally pushed UndoTV, its technology news site, into public beta as of last Thursday.
The lack of ripples in the online video pond is a surprise, considering UndoTV was supposed to be a lasting reunion of TechTV alumni, as organized by internet personalities Leo Laporte, of the TWiT Netcast Network, and Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome technology portal. But it seems along the way the TechTV alums heading the effort became unsatisfied with or lost interest in PikSpot.
Beyond Cable: Pro Content Jumps Online
Big names are joining no-names online. The same low initial overhead and favorable demographics that are helping independent productions succeed online are also becoming a boon to traditional, and not so traditional, content providers. There’s a flood tide of online exclusive content on the way, especially geared toward the all-important 18-35 year-old male demographic.
It’s not just promotional content for network shows, like mini-webisodes and full episode streams, it’s not all trapped at a domain on some restrictive custom player, and some of it could even be considered socially valuable. Some recent announcements from the NHL, History Channel and UNICEF highlight the range and quality of shows produced by seasoned professionals for online distribution.
Karina’s Capsule: Girls on Film
Last week, I went looking for mashups produced by and/or for women, and came up short. As Chuck Tryon summed it up in the comments to last week’s post, the issue doesn’t seem to be that women are not making funny videos, but that there’s a culture of parodic web video making, based on Situationist-style use of found footage and juxtaposition, that women don’t seem to be heavily involved in.
But of course, generalities made on blogs are destined to be proven false by blog readers, and so I’ve spent some time over the past week following links offered by NewTeeVee readers to funny videos made by girls. I still have not seen a single mashup-style video made by/for girls, but I’ve seen several cases where women are deconstructing culture in similar ways through performance.
Girls on Film is one example. It’s a weekly movie review video podcast hosted by Suzanne Keilly and Heather Stewart, and produced by Alex Albrecht of Diggnation fame (who also happens to be Stewart’s boyfriend). In each episode, Keilly and Stewart review two movies, often from a location inspired by one of the films (so, in the episode above, they go to a cheap motel to review killer motel flick Vacancy).
Wednesday Morning Vid-Biz Headlines
Fresh off the NewTeeVee news ticker, headlines from the world of online video:
Dolans Near Deal for Cablevision, for about $23 billion and change. (NY Times)
UK’s ITV Unveils Big Online Video Plans, including 30-day catchup, live streaming. (Informitv)
AT&T Brings TV to SoCal, offering triple play bundles to LA ‘burbs. (LA Times)
Florida Cable Dereg Bill Moves Forward, becomes law if Gov. signs. (Sun-Sentinel)
IBM Cisco Partner for Euro IPTV Deals, eyeing second-tier players and offering financing. (Light Reading)
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GigaOM Network
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