When “Lonelygirl15” burst on to the scene in summer of 2006, it seemed to mark a new era in video entertainment. No Hollywood studio, no broadcast network, no big-time producer. Just a group of guys with an idea, some credit cards and a DIY spirit. “Lonelygirl” went on to rack up millions of plays and has earned its place in the web series hall of fame (when such a thing is built).
Despite having achieved a level of fame on the web that arguably no one since has been able to repeat, EQAL, the creator of “Lonelygirl,” is getting out of the original episodic content game to focus on creating digital extensions of existing traditional media properties. But EQAL’s not alone in foregoing original content in favor of bigger branded pastures. ABC shuttered Stage9, its web studio, and last fall swore off original productions in favor of web shows such as “Mode After Dark” that support ABC TV programming (“Ugly Betty,” in this case).
If successful players like these don’t see a future in creating original episodic web content, who does? What’s the role of original intellectual property if everyone is looking for the quick hit?
Co-founder Greg Goodfried told us there were two main factors in EQAL’s decision to shift away from original episodic to online brand extensions. First, getting advertisers to foot the bill for an unknown series just wasn’t a reality anymore. “They want things that already have an audience,” said Goodfried. Second, traditional media companies like CBS and famed southern TV chef Paula Deen were coming to EQAL and asking to expand their offline properties online, so there was a demand.
Hey Robert,
Thanks for the comment. I agree that there is a lack of imagination in web content, given the possibilities the internet presents. One area of interest though is in transmedia storytelling, where shows like “Heroes” are trying to create original web programming that feeds into a larger canon.
The problem with this transmedia storytelling that I’ve seen though, is that no one really wants to talk about whether people are actually watching it. Though Goodfried has said more people were engaging with Harper’s Globe than any previous EQAL show.
@Ken,
I think your comment feeds nicely into what Friedman was saying for this piece about the experimentation phase for web content. It sort of got its legs cut out from underneath it.
If you look at the history of other media (movies, TV, etc) — it takes about 10 years on average for the new medium to acquire a “language” of its own. Movies, for example, were first used to give people a taste of “reality” they had not experienced before: people in Kansas “seeing” the ocean or giving everyone the experience of seeing a play from the best seat in the house. Movies just “distributed” what already existed in another medium (stage plays). It wasn’t until 10 years after the advent of paid movies that The Great Train Robbery introduced the new language of close-ups and non-linear story telling (flash-backs).
In other words, it’s going to take a while for Internet video to do something truly unique rather than just distributing the video and film content we already have today.
I work in the area of public media, specifically working on digital strategy & investments into public broadcasting. One of the most vexing problems facing legacy stations, as well as PBS, NPR and beyond, is how to program in a multiscreen, multiplatform world. There is not yet a a coherent strategy nor tactical rules/standards.
This is a good article to broaden those conversations, especially considering the evolution of EQAL and how the other legacy media products are approaching them (or vice versa).
I am most interested in hearing others thoughts on “networked media” programming. Somehow restreaming the same content over various platforms seems somewhat flaccid and unimaginative. The other areas of media are so world encompassing that we have the opportunity to stitch together our own experiences, or use trusted filters, but that has not really translated into streaming/broadcast beyond the interesting experiment.
What is a programmer (not me by the way) to do?