February 28, 2008
Video's New Friends
Social-networking sites are taking the plunge into original Web video series to lure ads and compete with YouTube. The Wall Street Journal reports.
"Bebo with "KateModern and other social-networking sites like MySpace with Special Delivery" and "Roommates" are taking the plunge into original Web series at a time when the popularity of online video is surging.
To promote "KateModern", whose first season drew an average of 1.5 million video views per week, Bebo relies on the interaction among the Web site's users. It sends alerts to members to tell them when new episodes are posted. And it allows members to send messages to characters.
The social sites hope to use the shows to attract advertising revenue. More importantly, they are banking on the original content to keep users from fleeing to popular Web sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube that focus almost exclusively on video."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2008/02/019231.htm