Is
content still king?
NewTeeVee.com
posted
yesterday that the creative team behind the interactive webseries lonelygirl15
and KateModern have formed a social entertainment company,
EQAL,
while likewise raising five million dollars in capital for the venture.
Sounds good, right? NewTeeVee.com went on to point out, however, that
“the pesky thing about VCs is they pressure you for a return on
their investment,” while also asking, “Is this really a
business opportunity?” The website noted that the new investors
included Sparks Capital, which had a representative at a panel discussion
last November sponsored by NewTeeVee that questioned the wisdom of investing
in content. “I think most VC shops should stay out,” Dennis
Miller of the investment firm is quoted
as saying at the time when asked if anybody can make money off of content.
So what
happened to the old adage that “content is king”? Author
Amanda Lotz, in her book The Television Will Be Revolutionized,
points out that while content is indeed initially king in any new medium,
eventually distribution rises to the top of the list. Miller even alluded
as much at the panel discussion when he explained that it’s the
infrastructures built around the content that is most important as they
provide the vehicle for advertising and metric data analysis. The founders
of EQAL seem to understand this as well, for while their website promises
to establish “partnerships with independent producers, traditional
media companies, and multinational brands,” it’s the building
of online communities that lies at the center of the venture. “We
believe that the community is just as important as the content we create,”
the EQAL site states. “With this as our blueprint, we construct
interactive shows that transform passive viewers into active participants.
Our shows entertain and enlighten, driving discussion and encouraging
viewers and participants to immerse themselves in a shared entertainment
experience.” Now it’s just a question of whether it can
make any money while being true to its vision without giving in to investor
pressure. With everybody wondering what the right business model for
Internet video will be, the EQAL experiment should indeed be interesting
to watch.
—Anthony
Letizia (April 18, 2008)
