Dr. Horrible Demonstrates Wonderful Potential for Post-Web Profits

While it certainly helps that the very successful webseries “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog” featured a name cast and was created by the much loved (especially by the net-saavy) Joss Whedon, there is a lot for all of us to learn about how to monetize web video.

The secret for Dr. Horrible lies in the use of release windows much like the movie studios have employed for decades.

First, the episodes were available for free streaming online, but only for a limited time.

Next, you were able to pay to download the episodes at iTunes for a small fee.  The fee was fair because now you had a version that could travel with you.

Now, Joss and company are releasing a jam-packed DVD with all sorts of value-added extras for even more money.

I’m sure there is a TV license window yet to be exploited as well.

Oh, there’s a soundtrack available, too.

Not only was Whedon able to get enormous amounts of free press and fan favor from the free release but he has understood how to build on that base to actually come out with some cash in his pocket.

While every webseries is not going to be able to do exactly what Whedon has done, it is very important to understand all of the distribution channels that exist and examine how each can best be exploited for your project.

Good article in TubeFilter, too.

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4 Comments

• 

  By NN, December 17, 2008 @ 7:24 pm

  Factchecking never hurts.
  If you live in the US Dr. Horrible is still available for free on Hulu. The whole window thing you describe is a thing of the past. Dr Horrible will be simultaneously available either for free on Hulu, as download from iTunes or on the fullblown dvd with the musical commentary and the rest, leaving the choice to the audience which version they prefer.

• 

  By mymediamusings, December 17, 2008 @ 8:18 pm

  You are right that it is once again free to stream online though there was a time after the initial release when this was not the case. Wheedon used the free period to build excitement and released the for-money version to iTunes during that time. While the idea of “windows” is different, the basic concept holds true. When you release, and on in which medium and what time has a big effect on potential success.

  Unfortunately, there is no one model that is guaranteed to work.

• 

  By NN, December 18, 2008 @ 12:00 am

  Sorry but the concept of release windows ie. thinking that you/the studio/ the network have control over where and when your movie/show can be enjoyed by the viewers have gone the way of the dodo, filesharing killed it. Now it’s all about making the product available as quickly as possible on as many distribution channels as possible, maximizing potential revenue while the buzz is on, saving anything for a potential ‘later window’ is a bad idea since your product will be available for free on the filesharing sites anyway.
  But the Dr. Horrible experiment tells us that if you have the right product and are willing to go the extra mile connecting with your fan base, free availability doesn’t matter, you can get the revenue anyway.

• 

  By Syed Shams Bhai, January 4, 2009 @ 8:43 am

  A very Nice Website Ive seen Uptill. Excellent post. Keep it up! Good day!

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