G.I. Joe and Adult Swim in Web-to-TV Experiment

Now seems like as good a time as any to “re-invent” G.I. Joe for a new, darker generation and the folks at Cartoon Networks AdultSwim are attempting just that with a series called G.I. Joe Resolute.

However, instead of simply putting the new cartoon right into the TV line-up, they are trying something a little bit different:

The show, which was first announced on Ellis’s blog last summer, is a 60-minute story that will be broken up into 11 episodes. The first ten episodes will run for around five minutes each and the finale will run for ten minutes.

Only the first ten episodes will air on AdultSwim.com. At midnight on April 25, the finale will air as part of a special viewing of the show in its entirety on Cartoon Network.

This will be one to track in terms of how much buzz and traffic can be created and how many people will follow the series from the web to TV.  Unlike pervious attempts to combine these platforms, like streaming a premiere episode or transplanting a series, this feels like a more organic approach and I believe it will benefit all involved.

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• G.I. Joe Resolute Clips Now Online (themovieblog.com)
• Warren Ellis’ Animated ‘G.I. Joe: Resolute’ Debuts With A Bang… Lots Of Them! (splashpage.mtv.com)

If a TV Station Goes Online-Only is it Still TV?

Cory Bergman over  on Lost Remote makes an interesting proposition:

What if a TV station did the same? After all, many in the industry now concede that some markets can only sustain two or three TV stations in the near future. For those who can’t survive, what if they shut down the station and re-emerge as a lean-and-mean local media company with a focus on non-linear video? Clips would be published to the web, mobile and cable/satellite VOD.

This got me thinking about what makes a TV station what it is and how it would be changed moving to an online-only distribution model.  For starters, there is the whole question of streaming live and simple providing programming on demand.  When one looks at local TV networks the main draw is the local news.  This program still holds value in today’s marketplace because NBC Nightly News can’t cover the whole world and your neighborhood.  This leaves a real opening for the local networks.  However, it is still news watched mostly by an older generation less likely to follow the format online.

The big question is, aside from the news, what could an online-only local “TV” network truly offer?  As anyone who has been involved with running or maintaining a video-content driven site will tell you, it is extremely difficult to maintain a high enough traffic rate without a constant flow of new material.  The bread-and-butter of most local networks is the shows they syndicate, but that will not be of much option  online where most of those shows are already available.

There are clearly massive opportunities online for original video content but I am not sure porting the local TV network is going to be the way to go.

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Social Networking Sites Becoming Networks

WSJ has a look at the growing trend among social networking sites like Bebo and MySpace using original video content as a way to grow and expand their user base:

“The growing popularity of YouTube poses a particular competitive threat to social-networking sites. Roughly a quarter of users who view videos on MySpace also watch shows on each of the major television networks’ Web sites, while more than 80% watch them on YouTube, according to Nielsen Online.

What’s more, the average MySpace visitor spent 10% less time on the site in January 2008 compared with January 2007, according to comScore Inc. The average YouTube user spent 57% more time on YouTube during the same period. To reverse the trend, social networks want to engage members with compelling shows they hope can generate the level of buzz of other Web video hits.”

This strikes me as another signal that the traditional TV network is going to be going through a pretty serious shift over the next few years.  Right now we’re all still going to outside sources for our entertainment – basically “tuning in” to a site or a channel.

I believe the big shift will be when the entertainment simply comes to us.  Each of us will have a personal portal (like your Facebook profile) where all the possible entertainment you might be interested in or subscribed to could be accessed and viewed.  No more turning to channel 10 for news then channel 22 for cartoons then going online for gossip.

The End of Networks

It’s exciting to see really big names in the media world coming out and saying something I’ve been talking about for a while – that the Age of the Networks is drawing to a close.

“Warner Bros. TV’s president said the studios will bypass broadcast networks next decade using broadband and cellular. “We will go directly to consumers with content,” President Bruce Rosenblum said Tuesday in a notably candid insider’s talk to Stanford law students. “Your generation” is witnessing “a complete disaggregation of the networks,” he said. Warner leads in supplying prime-time shows to the networks, and going around those big customers will usher in an era that will be very expensive for his business but offer it exciting prospects…”

See the whole article here (via NewTeeVee)