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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Do people WATCH web shows?

J

Justin Anderson

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My friend has written a 7 part web series that I'm really excited to be Producing.
We're getting ready to shoot the first 2 episodes in October and we've got a small producing team together to do the legwork (still looking for a DP).
But before we put a bunch of time into pre-producing and raising $10K, I wanted to hear some thoughts and feedback from you guys about web shows in general.

Are there any web shows that you currently watch? I really miss "We Need Girlfriends" on Youtube when it was still around; it legitimately was a good quality web show that I looked forward to every episode.

What could make you MORE interested in watching web shows?

Is there anywhere online right now that you believe has a strong community for web shows that we should target?

Any feedback is appreciated. I really believe in the scripts and the actors we've already cast are amazing.
We're trying to make intelligent/responsible decisions with this film though, as much as we're excited about it.

Thanks,
-J
 
How many total screen minutes are you producing for $10K?
 
GFIRob said:
How many total screen minutes are you producing for $10K?
Click to expand...

22min. 2 episodes.

I actually think it'll need to be higher for all the things that we want to do, but I'm fighting as hard as I can to do what we want for less money.
 
I think there could be a very big market for web based shows here really soon. As of right now I only watch my TV shows from the studio websites. They seem to have a really good model taking form. They have a max of two commercials that are less that 30 seconds total. So it seems that you would have to suck up the cost to make your shows until it has some kind of audience and then see if people want to put some commercials with it. But of course if your going to do this you need to host the show from your site and not through Vimeo or Youtube. Maybe start there and then go exclusively from your site.
 
Andrew Walker said:
I think there could be a very big market for web based shows here really soon. As of right now I only watch my TV shows from the studio websites. They seem to have a really good model taking form. They have a max of two commercials that are less that 30 seconds total.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they do seem to have a GREAT model going. And I believe at this point these sites have the traffic that warrants higher ad $$$.


Out of curiosity, do you watch any of your TV shows on an actual TV?
 
Its a whole new open world, get some while you can. Hire someone to get you exposure, seo.
 
Andrew Walker said:
So it seems that you would have to suck up the cost to make your shows until it has some kind of audience and then see if people want to put some commercials with it. But of course if your going to do this you need to host the show from your site and not through Vimeo or Youtube. Maybe start there and then go exclusively from your site.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're probably right. Do you know of any web content creators who have directly licensed for advertising?
If I can prove I have the audience, how would I directly approach a company to advertise on the episodes?
 
JNFilms said:
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26981
Click to expand...

Jason Rodriguez wrote some incredibly succinct posts in this thread.

Justin Anderson said:
If I can prove I have the audience, how would I directly approach a company to advertise on the episodes?
Click to expand...

This is really the trick - you need connections. We are currently pitching several web shows to a major beer company for sponsorship rights. We have an advertising background, and therefore years of corporate contacts.

Before you can make your pitch, you need to get your foot in the door, and there is no magic secret for this - other than hustle, hustle and hustle... Research people in the marketing departments in your area and beat down the door. Start small (local) and work your way up (national), as it is very unlikly the top people will give you the time of day. But if your idea impresses the local staff, they can champion your project all the way to the top.

My advice would be to look for a partner with advertising experience. But, the problem with partners is that they dilute the profit pool, which is the point of any business venture. As producers, this is the tight rope that we must walk. This is why some people go to business school and others to film school. Very few people can do it all.

I wish you luck.

Edgar
 
Paolo Tinari said:
Guys, can you point me to those sites?
Interesting thread Justin.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is stuff I think we all should know/be thinking about. I'm trying to put together a research document at the end of all this.

www.hulu.com (owned by FOX and NBC)

Abc, the CW, and Fox's website also have full-episode players.


The player on these sites, developed by Move Networks, is really impressive; delivers great quality at low bandwidth.
http://www.movenetworks.com/why-move/the-quality-difference

Move uses On2's superb VP7 variable-bandwidth video codec, which allows instant streaming that adjusts to peoples' bandwidth. Adobe has the license right to this codec, but for some reason doesn't implement it in Flash.
http://www.movenetworks.com/blog/move-networks-announces-strategic-partnership-with-microsoft
 
Justin Anderson said:
Yeah, they do seem to have a GREAT model going. And I believe at this point these sites have the traffic that warrants higher ad $$$.


Out of curiosity, do you watch any of your TV shows on an actual TV?
Click to expand...

Right now since I have been color grading a lot of projects I have my computer out in my living room hooked up to my 36" LCD. So I have been watching all my shows for the past couple weeks on my TV through the sites. The Fox content looks really good because its in HD and works on a Mac with ease. The other sites I sometimes have problems with or they don't have HD streaming like Fox does. But I still watch my shows through the SD sites.

I also use to watch almost everything on Hulu but now I just go straight to the studio site because in most cases it looks better.

Justin Anderson said:
Yeah, you're probably right. Do you know of any web content creators who have directly licensed for advertising?
If I can prove I have the audience, how would I directly approach a company to advertise on the episodes?
Click to expand...

Can't really help you there. I'm just not sure how that side of the business really works. But I know if you have the traffic on your site people will pay to advertise to those people.
 
I said this before in the previous Internet Show thread. There is definatly a market for Internet based TV shows. It just hasn't grown to a demand for good quality shows yet. people are still satsifed with Mr. Average Joe's home camera and his friends goofing off for a few minutes. There have been those few shows that have been exceptional but not enough to crack there own market.
I think if people start producing these shows and a bit of competition arrises.. then money will start to work into the equation.

It's going to be a hard run to get companies interested in purchasing Internet Shows. I don't think there will ever be the capacity to actually charge for individual downloads per episode. There is too much competition with actual TV shows that are put on the internet the day after they air and you can watch those for free. But someone has to push Internet TV forward if it is ever going to get anymore.

Good luck to anyone venturing into this arena. I wish you success.
 
I watch a live 1 hour plus webcast about pro gaming on www.djwheat.tv (usually has about 300 people watching it live + people that download the videos after the fact).

It is a poor quality (webcam video + headset/skype audio) community production, but the content is great. It is informative and fun, so even if your production quality is not killer, if you have good content on the net, people will watch it for free.
 
Have you seen "Sanctuary" I am sure this has been brought up, but they started with a pay for content model. The show generated enough buzz that the sold it to SciFi.

How did they generate the buzz??

That is a key point I think.
 
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