‘Twas 2005, IGN had just acquired my old company, AskMen… and I was being marginalized, so I was looking for something to do. One day on a flight to NYC, I happened to read about one Rocketboom: an online video blog, or vlog, in BusinessWeek.
I never really got Rocketboom, but the concept of producing low cost video for the Web was intriguing. I never really liked the “one person talking in front of a camera, pontificating, day in, day out” model but I knew that there could be more to it. So while the programming is not my thing, giving credit where credit is due, Rocketboom was indeed a trailblazer… and Sony - who just bought the 50% of Sony BMG it did not own - was looking (I presume, of course) to bolster its original content programming for Crackle… who is one of the many companies trying to gain traction in a YouTube-dominated world.
We all heard about the saga between the principals… and lo and behold, once left for dead, Rocketboom comes back to strike a seven-figure deal with Sony.
Rafat Ali pokes fun at Sony’s bizarre move. All I have to say is this makes sense, in a crazy way:
- no way would Rocketboom do speculative deals that don’t really pay the bills, here they lock Sony in to commit real dollars, something I’ve been urging content owners to do;
- no way would Sony acquire the whole lot now, before knowing if this will stick to the walls;
- But in this economic backdrop, no way would Sony’s Crackle want to start from scratch and start creating content for the web either. Here they lock up a big name - albeit somewhat in need of a fresh coat of paint - that they believe will get advertisers and users excited.
From our Top 10 Predictions from 2008, here is #6:
6- Video Content: Build, then Buy
2007 marked a year where many media companies attempted to build video content offerings, 2008 will see some acquisition activity as traditional media companies look to scale by buying into the space. This will surprisingly allow some print media companies to have more robust video content offerings on their web sites than TV companies, who continue to view the Web as a threat to their core TV advertising revenues.
Will Rocketboom stick on the wall? I don’t know. I’m biased: WatchMojo.com’s genre of content is radically different. But CBS is having challenges selling Wallstrip to its advertisers… though CBS’s audience is about 50, on average, and they know and are comfortable with 60 Minutes.
Anyway, as crazy as it seems, this is a sensible solution for both companies.
Will Sony renew? Time will tell. All I know is these kind of deals make me happy; even more so than CBS’ decision to buy Wallstrip (Howard - told you you sold too soon!)
But, who cares what I say, let’s go to the horse’s mouth, Rocketboom co-founder Andrew Baron. More on the deal here.
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WatchMojo NewsletterBroadcast TV will surpass newspapers as the largest ad medium in 2008, while total Internet ad spend will surpass broadcast TV in 2011
I like the sound of that. Read more here.
