Web TV shows attract major stars
DIGITAL: Segment shows commercial success, Futurescape report says
By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 9/2/2009
SEPT. 2 | DIGITAL: Web TV shows are becoming more mainstream and financially sound as major stars and producers go online, according to digital entertainment research company Futurescape, which just released the second edition of its Birth of Online TV report.
“Web shows have progressed from experimental projects to become creatively and commercially successful productions in their own right,” Futurescape co-founder Özlem Tunçil said about the report, which examines the evolving online original video series business.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon led the Internet charge last year with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a series he created with $200,000 of his own money and debuted on Hulu. He then sold it as a download through iTunes, turning a profit and eventually released it in two separate DVD releases.
Since then, dozens of others have followed. Lisa Kudrow launched Web Therapy, a series backed by Lexus; Hilary Duff’s The Chase is now on YouTube; Miley Cyrus is starring in the Miley and Mandy Show online; and next week, Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell’s first Web series, The Broadroom, will launch on makeup company Maybelline’s Web site.
Even bigger names are developing their own Web properties. X-Men director Bryan Singer is reportedly working on a sci-fi Web show, and Ridley Scott is backing sci-fi production Purefold.
More of them are finding commercial success, either through backing by major sponsors or through paid download sales.
For advertisers, backing a Web series is seen as a way to connect their brand with a targeted demo or online communities, Futurescape’s report found. Southern Comfort has dropped TV advertising and is instead sponsoring Web series on male-geared sites Break and My Damn Channel. Levi’s also is funding original comedies on Break.
Shows also are making commissions off of such video aggregation sites as Babelgum and DailyMotion, while MySpace and Bebo are commissioning original series.
Futurescape predicts that more Web shows will break out beyond the Web as creators try new ways to reach their audience. They point to Felicia Day’s successful series The Guild. Sponsored by Microsoft, the show launched online and has become a top performer on the Xbox game console. For its third season, producers created a music video with original song “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar,” which they uploaded on YouTube and directed fans to iTunes and Amazon to buy the download. It topped the Amazon MP3 download chart and the iTunes music video chart.
Futurescape co-founder Colin Donald said The Guild’s success “demonstrates there are real opportunities for other artists such as Miley Cyrus and Hilary Duff who already have large fan bases and also their own Web series.”
It also demonstrates how Web shows can lead to success in other parts of the business.
“Creating your own Web series gives an actor, producer or director a springboard to take the intellectual property, such as characters and story lines, across many other forms of entertainment, from music to games to books,” Donald said.
