a new playground

8 months ago

"After drawing millions of views online in the past two years, (“In the Motherhood”) was transformed into a traditional network sitcom, making it the first Web show to be remade for network television. But what made the Web series unique — an interactive style of storytelling — was quashed by the legal engine of Hollywood. On the MSN.com edition of “Motherhood” (since discontinued), short segments about funny, frazzled mothers were inspired by the real-life stories that viewers submitted via an Internet forum. ABC, similarly, asked for story submissions on its Web site (itm.abc.go.com) and said that they “might just become inspiration for a story by the writers.” But ABC’s call for ideas from moms drew the attention of the Writers Guild of America, which said this type of request for submissions was “not permissible” under its contract with the network. This week ABC abruptly removed the language about “inspiration” from its Web site, effectively saying that the writers may not be listening to viewers’ ideas, after all."

Brian Stelter @ Moms Find Move of ‘In the Motherhood’ From Web to TV on ABC a Hard Shift - NYTimes.com

via @ CinemaTech: ABC Says ‘No Thanks’ to Viewer Ideas

this is just silly. couldn’t they just figure out the legalities? oh… or is that what the real innovation would have been?

8 months ago

"The growth in viewing of long-form content online is also a boon for the growing online video ad market, he (Gian Fulgoni, chairman and co-founder of comScore) said. The longer people watch, the more advertising opportunities there are. The average online Internet user is watching 3.5 minutes at a time, and that keeps increasing. “That’s a really important metric because if we just stick with three-minute video clips that limits the number of ads,” he said. “You want these longer-running shows so you can maximize ad dollars. This is one of the key components of the future of online advertising.” However, work still needs to be done in where ads should live in online video, whether as pre-rolls, post-rolls or another form, he added."

Daisy Whitney @ comScore Chairman: Down with Clicks, Up with Video

video content on the web is a ripe advertising medium.

"There’s a myth out there among some newspapers folks that “if only” the newspapers hadn’t committed the “original sin” of putting content online for free, the newspapers wouldn’t be facing difficulties these days. It’s the kind of story that sounds good if you don’t look too closely at the details. … However, it looks like Mark Cuban believes in that “original sin” concept, and is posting a series of blog posts to try to prevent TV networks from making the same “mistake.” It started with the claim that anyone who thinks TV is going a la carte online is crazy, because the “content companies” will never give up the fees they earn from the networks. … He (like NBC Universal execs) laughs off the “threat” of people switching to all online access to TV content, noting that very few people have done so. This surprises me, since you’d think that Cuban would be familiar enough with Clayton Christensen’s work to know that just because there are only a few early adopters (and the quality isn’t as good) that it doesn’t mean that it’s not a potential threat. In fact, those questions are basically the de facto list of questions that an “incumbent” player tends to ask when facing a Christensen-style “innovator’s dilemma” just before the upstart technology really begins to hurt the legacy business."

Mike Masnick @ Mark Cuban Declares War On Free TV Online… But Misses Out On The Economics | Techdirt

free online tv is pissing a lot of people off.

8 months ago

"The BBC Trust, which watches over the broadcaster’s budget on behalf of UK citizens who pay the license fee that funds operations, has agreed to a £30.7 million ($44.3 million) budget increase for the BBC’s web ventures. That brings the total to more than £145 million a year for the next three years. Meanwhile, traffic to online video web sites has risen 40.7 percent in the UK over the last 12 months, with YouTube garnering 62.9 percent of those visits, according to the Beeb. Further, traffic to the BBC’s iPlayer is up 152.1 percent, and is second to YouTube among video sites with an 11.2 percent share. Hopefully the budget increase will be enough to cover the growing bandwidth bill. The extra money comes at a time when the BBC is otherwise scaling back."

Jackson West @ BBC Trust Boosts Web Budget, Cuts TV and Film Money

follow the money.

8 months ago

"Amazon-owned IMDb, the mega-database for all things entertainment, has been skirting the issue for a while, but this week let out hints that it will finally be adding a new category for original web series and one-off web videos. Veteran web series creator Casey McKinnon (Galacticast) reports on her blog with news out of Austin’s SXSW Interactive conference that IMDb founder and managing director Col Needham states that the company is in fact preparing to add the separate categories for online content."

Marc Hustvedt @ IMDb to Add Web Series Category, So What’s a Web Series?

web series are for real, says imdb!

8 months ago

"About twenty years ago people noticed computers and TV were on a collision course and started to speculate about what they’d produce when they converged. … It’s clear now that even by using the word “convergence” we were giving TV too much credit. This won’t be convergence so much as replacement. People may still watch things they call “TV shows,” but they’ll watch them mostly on computers. … Shows will change even more. On the Internet there’s no reason to keep their current format, or even the fact that they have a single format. Indeed, the more interesting sort of convergence that’s coming is between shows and games."

Paul Graham @ Why TV Lost

computer + internet (interactivity) kills tv (dumb box). content providers must adjust strategy. content will undoubtedly adjust as well.

9 months ago

"Internet filmmaking still isn’t taken seriously. It doesn’t matter how good my work is or how good it looks, there are people who simply, either by virtue of the size of the player, or through general snobbishness, don’t consider it serious filmmaking."

Jamie Stuart from Truly Free Film: Wassamatta With Indie Today?

an essay on the pitfalls of “traditional” independent filmmaking and what’s next.

9 months ago

"Video snacking” describes how millions of people are creating viewing habits around quick & consistent consumption of video. … 146 million people, or 77% of the U.S. Internet audience, viewed online video. Those viewers watched 34% more online videos than they did last year. The average online viewer watched 273 minutes of video, up over 40% vs. the previous year. The average duration of online video is fairly short, at 3.1 minutes per video. And, the audience viewed 87 videos per month on average, 18 more videos per month than last year."

Dave Jackson @ MediaPost Publications - The Online Video Snacking Trend

short & plenty.

9 months ago

"The engine that drove [serialized TV] was you had to be in front of the TV [when it aired]. Now you can watch it when you want, where you want, how you want to watch it, and almost all of those ways are superior to watching it on-air. So [watching it] on-air is related to the saps and the dipshits who can’t figure out how to watch it in a superior way."

Tim Kring - Creator of NBC’s “Heroes” @ The Future Is Cheese - The Atlantic

9 months ago

"After you’ve seen the Model T, do you really want to keep making horse shoes?"

Evan Spiridellis - JibJab @ USC Panel: Innovation in Hollywood: Past, Present & Future

9 months ago

"So far, nobody has the imagination to figure out what new thing you can provide on the Internet that you can’t get in any other medium. But that day will come."

Howard Suber - Author of “The Power of Film” @ Hollywood Struggles to Find Wealth on The Web - NYTimes.com

there’s a void that needs filling.

1 year ago

NewTeeVee Live - Bridging The Gap Between Television and Online (via gigaom)

more @ NewTeeVee Live Panel: Bridging the Gap Between TV and Web « NewTeeVee

transmedia storytelling in practice. a panel discussion with Jesse Alexander (Heroes), Bill Gannon (LucasFilm), Greg Goodfried (lonelygirl15) & Jeff Gomez (Starlight Runner Entertainment)

1 year ago

"Producing Web content may be easy but profiting from it is hard. While a small number of writers, producers and actors are making a living with webisodes, they are still a long way from establishing the form alongside television and feature films. The newfound industry lacks clear business models and standardized formats. And so far, it also lacks audiences. Ask most average media consumers what Web shows they watch, and the reaction is likely to be a blank stare. … The “Lost” of the Web — or maybe it will be a “Friends” — has yet to be born."

Brian Stelter @ Web TV producers struggle to find formula for success - International Herald Tribune

a lot of people are poking around. but is anybody, in real numbers, actually paying attention?

1 year ago

The WB.com Trailer (via BMM821)

more @ TechCrunch: The WB Rises From Ashes As Competitor To Hulu

more @ Resurrecting the WB as a Web Contender - NYTimes.com

more @ TheWB.com

it was dead, now it’s back as an internet only venue for old-WB reruns and original webseries. for women.

1 year ago

Marshall Herskovitz - Producer of quarterlife @ KEYNOTE - DIY DAYS LA - fromheretoawesome on blip.tv

the journey of a webseries and birth of a targeted social networking site. a case study.

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