I was born in Mexico, studied college in the U.S., and live with my family in Germany. I work for a webseries production and licensing company, where I research U.S. and world-wide productions, negotiate content acquisition, and suggest ideas for new material.
You may find more information in my LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/armandogutierrez
Here's a creative way to monetise through merchandise: sell your own tabletop game. The team behind GOLD are now trying to monetise their series via DVD and the above mentioned game, and starting preproduction on their second season.
San Francisco - Funny or Die, the Web comedy studio backed by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, plans to launch its own YouTube (NASD: GOOG) channel next month, COO Mitch Galbraith said at Digital Media Wire's Digital Media Conference West in San Francisco, NewTeeVee reported. The company, which had previously operated a standalone site with an embeddable player, also has plans to produce a TV show for HBO and a feature film.via dmwmedia.com
It's quite unexpected, but it makes sense that at some point cross-media integration for Funny or Die would move to TV and the silver screen. The more interesting part is that, from what I understand, FoD are not really producers, just aggregators. Their opening up for Youtube means that either they finally reached a point at which they would earn more revenues through super-distribution, or they want to push web material as advertisement for more profitable TV/Movie content.
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Hulu turning to paid content, exec says
Posted on October 22, 2009
Filed Under HuluHulu has paid content in its near future, News Corp. deputy chairman Chase Carey says.
The popular online video site that’s prized for its free streams of TV shows “needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business,” Carey told a broadcasting conference Oct. 22.
News Corp. owns Hulu along with NBC Universal and Disney.
He was quoted on Hulu’s future by Broadcasting & Cable, which sponsored the conference.
Carey predicted some paid content would show up on Hulu in 2010, but admitted he’d only sat in on one of its board meetings. He said an outright firewall didn’t make sense, but charging for specialty video such as TV previews did.
“I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of (News Corp.’s) content,” Carey said. “I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value.”
It seems hybrid models have a greater chance of success than standard models. It's good that someone's taking the dive, especially someone big. Web series distribution and pricing (free) through Hulu should not be affected, however, since nowadays they serve only as promotional material for brands, directors, or production companies. The only programs that will get locked behind a payment wall will be meant for television and film.
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Update: If you read the google translation, please don't think we are discussing weapons. Google believes 'Bereta' is the translation for 'Webserien', which it clearly isn't.Of course, it makes the whole thing sound funnier.
Daniel Morawek from Metropolog and I held a short epistolary conversation about web series, their present situation in Germany, and their possible future development. He kindly translated everything from broken German and English to proper German and posted it at the following address: http://metropolog.de/2009/10/12/zukunft-der-webserie/
If you don't understand German, you can use the following Google translation link: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmetropolog.de%2F2009%2F10%2F12%2Fzukunft-der-webserie%2F&sl=&tl=en
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"Woke up dead" by Electric Farms--and starring Jon Heder--will be airing soon online. In an interview by Tubefilter, Stan Rogow (producer at Electric Farm) says the show will be released in clumps. He also adds the following regarding publication windows and feedback they got from Afterworld fans:
“99% preferred having a clump of episodes, but they still wanted regular content, like a clump every day[.] The answer is that there are different people that want to consume it in different ways, so we try to allow that to happen.”
Small innovations like this one make my day.
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According to Tubefilter, Netflix is jumping on the web series bandwagon and producing their own Halloween horror series _Splatter_. This strengthens the argument that web series stand better chances of being produced and distributed as different platforms seek to distinguish themselves from the competition through exclusive content.
Links:
Tubefilter http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TubefilterNews/~3/LhPgMZoXCiQ/
Trailer http://splatter.netflix.com/
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In view of the monetization problem faced online, imaginative solutions have arisen to earn a profit on the production and distribution of “web-only” material. Starz uses web series to pilot shows and gauge their future success. Web series that build audiences are used by Disney and Sony launch movies and DVDs. Some web series have found their way into in-flight entertainment, bit torrenting sites, and the PMP market (Zune, iPod).
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Activities that substitute for watching web series include watching television and movies online and watching web-exclusive videos such as virals. Other online activities such as reading blogs, using social networks and checking email can also be considered to be in competition with web series.
The 'TV Everywhere' campaign, in which multi-platform access to cable content is provided to users who can prove they have a cable subscription, will also draw audiences away from the risky business of watching unknown original content to watching the safe and known offers of the TV industry. Turning this campaign around to benefit from it will require creative thinking. Perhaps linking web series to existing content (“it’s like CSI meets Lost”) and promoting this link could lead users of TV Everywhere to watch said web series. Data capping by ISPs may prove threatening to web series as people would become more selective about what they watch, favoring premiere entertainment (despite the length) or limiting themselves to family videos and occasional videos recommended by others.
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Jeremy Allaire from Brightcove says in an interview with Daisy Whitney that despite the ever-growing interest in online video advertising, content remains king.
I agree completely.
Click on the link below and watch the interview if you have about 4 minutes.
Links:
http://blip.tv/play/goRrgaDMeQI
http://www.brightcove.com
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Compared to television and film, online videos offer more interactivity, the ability to instantly share with friends, the ability to watch on demand in a variety of locations, and the ability to rate and see ratings by others. Compared to online premiere content (the same TV and film content made available online), which shares many of the same web-centric qualities, web series offer a greater variety, greater focus on niche markets and greater interactivity.
On the other hand, web series episodes are so short that it is hard to sit back and relax while watching them; it is difficult to find them and navigate through the large number of episodes available; and content quality is generally inferior to premiere material.
Ways in which a new value curve can be created include: making web series a sit-back experience by playing related episodes back-to-back and disabling the screensaver; increasing interactivity or turn the experience emotional (ie. “support your local filmmakers!”); making the experience as simple as possible: run the grandma test on every interface; improving recommendation engines to cross-advertise series, and make it easy to rate and share with others.
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