There is some info from NewTeeVee on the latest plans by the FunnyOrDie people:
“Glover kept mum on most details of the new video game site, but did spill a few tidbits. “The video game site will not be a game-playing site,” said Glover. “If we became a game-playing site, that actually limits who we could partner with, who we could align with, and advertisers we could get.”
Let’s review… FunnyOrDie launched just over a year ago to a lot of attention due to the fact that the site was co-founded by Will Ferrell who graciously provided a very funny and very viral video called The Landlord. However, after the initial surge of viewers the site has been on a constant downward trend, losing close to 1,000,000 unique viewers over the course of a year.
During that time they also launched ShredOrDie and BlueCollarOrDie (yeah, that one really breaks the whole ‘or die’ logic), neither of which could be called wildly successful.
Now they’re launching a gaming site that will not include any games one might play. The only thing I can imagine is a site for people to post recorded gameplay highlights. If that doesn’t get you excited nothing will.
Plenty of folks writing about the 1-year anniversary of the Will Ferrell-backed web video site FunnyOrDie. After leaping into peoples hearts and minds with The Landlord viral video the numbers for the site have sunk back down to earth.
The latest figures show just over 500,000 total unique viewers for the month of March – down nearly 1 million from it’s high point a year ago.
Considering this blog, which features only my own little writings a few times a day is able to get 5000 uniques a month with no advertsing or publicity to speak of it just doesn’t seem like 500,000 for a site like FunnyOrDie is all that impressive.
It doesn’t help that they have very little truly original content or that their videos often find themselves widely syndicated off-site but I just don’t understand how the site can survive another year at those numbers.
There is what can only be called a fluff piece in AdAge about Damon Wayans addition to the comedy website marketplace, WayOut TV
“Today, Mr. Wayans is pushing Madison Avenue’s buttons, recruiting brands to underwrite what he calls “his legacy”: Wayout TV, a multiplatform production company that has been incubating shows for the internet. His venture also aims to serve as a creative haven for up-and-coming writers, directors, producers, actors and musical talent. He started uploading material onto a Wayout TV channel on YouTube in February (he’s negotiating a similar deal with MySpace) and is on the prowl for both artists and advertisers for WayoutTV. This time, though, Mr. Wayans hopes his computer effort does explode.”
Not exactly sure why Wayans is getting such a free ride when the truth is that the market is saturated with nearly identical sites with carbon-copy business plans.
About the only really valuable element is Wayans’ point that there is not a real hub for “urban” video. That might be something to consider but I still don’t think Wayans is going to be the one to make it happen.
I’m not particularly slamming Wayans but it seems strange for AdAge to make it sound like what he’s doing is something new in the industry.
Although Damon Wayons’ site isn’t launching until later this month, they have posted a channel on YouTube with some previews.
Not breaking any new ground here and I don’t really see how this sort of model is sustainable. Much like FunnyOrDie had a big splash with Landlord only to see its numbers plummet, WayOutTV may be, well, on its way out pretty fast.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw2MUV0kQoc&rel=1]
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April 24, 2008 2:40 pm | 
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