I'm not going to lie- I really eally iked the >en.net (den.net) show called "Frat Ratz." It was just silly enough to be an enjoyable caricature of fraternity life. DEN (Digital Entertainment Network) was kind of ahead of its time in terms of offering streaming original content over the internet for free. Whatever advertising they may have been able to get was probably dwarfed by production costs [probably the production costs element hasn't c hnaged much- for independent content producers, it's really really hard to make money off of the "long tail" longtail.com]
What has changed, then?
- Monetizing content someone already produced, especially if they went bankrupt doing it, is probably easier than ever./ Someone already realized they aren't going to get Seinfeld-order revenues from syndicating web video, but if they can get eyeballs, they have some options.
- Shows like Ask A Ninja or RocketBoom have proven that advertisers will get involved in content that has a wide audience, even ifg it's a little, um, juvenile or adventurous. Advertisers are increasingly aware that they must venture into these waters
- Operating an ad-sales and delivery network for web video has gone from a custom built solution to a totally efficient option from likes of Revver.
So check out the promo for DEN...and my old favorite, Frat Ratz is in there!