And here I thought Jeff Jarvis was the only one flogging vlogs. The NYT had an article over the weekend about the explosion of vlogging, and the distribution deal that slightly funny vlog Rocketboom made with TiVo. TiVo gives Rocketboom 50% of the revenue from ads it sells on their content.
Then Andy picked up producer Kent Nichols’ call of the coming–and monetizable– “indie tv” wave, a combination of online and TiVo subscription vlogs and DVD sales, with existing TV networks cherrypicking proven content for broadcast.
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail; and to an independent TV producer courting networks all the time, everything looks like a pitch&development process. Personally, although the mad money TV networks might throw around as they lurch toward oblivion may be irresistible to some future vloggers, I can easily imagine people rejecting the creative and commercializing meddling by network suits, and just sticking with a smaller, more manageable process and audience online.
Of course, this also takes away a lot of excuses. Soon, with exorbitant production costs and distribution strangleholds out of the way, the only reason you’ll have for not being a famous comedian is that you’re not actually funny.
The Indie TV Movement is Here [beatboxgiant via waxy]
TV Stardom on $20 a Day [nyt]
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the making of, by greg allen