Next New Networks

Next New Networks Fall Internships

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:26:26 EDT

Next New Networks is currently seeking the brightest young minds for our Fall Internship program. Interns will be working alongside some of the most talented and creative people in the new media industry. We provide internships in: Production/Editing, Audience Development, and Marketing/Community Management.

Internships last about 3 months with a commitment of 16 - 32 hrs a week.

TO APPLY:
PLEASE SPECIFY WHICH INTERNSHIP YOU ARE APPLYING FOR IN THE SUBJECT LINE. Please submit a well-written cover letter to internships@nextnewnetworks.com outlining your interest and qualifications for consideration. Resume and links to your reel are also welcomed.

New Media Audience Intern
The AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT internship will require a unique set of skills. You will be a part of a company that is on the cutting edge of media, helping us set the rules for the next evolution in media production and entertainment.

Necessary Skills
- Exceptional attention to detail
- Ability and interest to work with data, statistics and viewership information.
- Comfort with spreadsheets and creating data graphs.
- Well-organized and able to prioritize
- Excited about Internet and New Media
- Online research skills
- Knowledge of Social media and Online video sites like facebook and YouTube.

Some Responsibilities of position
- Gather stats and data about our shows.
- Organize, format, and present data and insights based on stats.
- Online Community Management and executing promotion initiatives.
- Blog outreach
- Research and content organization for shows and networks.
- Helping organize creative assets and other materials

You can have any sort of academic background, but creativity, thinking outside the box, and a deep interest in how the pieces all fit together is essential.

New Media Development Intern
An internship where you watch Youtube? Yes. Intern will work closely with the head of development and programming. Finding up and coming web series and web video talent. Helping manage current programming and channels. Doing blog outreach. And occasionally help with shooting a weekly movie news show. Computer literacy is essential. Good writing skills. Knowledge of photoshop and/or final cut pro is a plus. Personable and hard working. This is an internship where you can do a lot and learn.

Necessary Skills
- Exceptional writing ability
- Well-organized and able to prioritize
- Dependable, Creative, Resourceful
- Excited about Internet and New Media
- Online research skills
- Some knowledge of how websites work

Production & Editing Intern
The internship will include assisting with production and post production of our shows, and helping out with maintaining the website, blog, and community. You must have a range of production skills as well as the desire to interact with our active forums and community members. An interest in both production and new media is ideal.

Desired Skills:
- Intermediate editing in Final Cut Pro
- Intermediate Photoshop.
- Thorough and organized

Some duties of the Intern position:
- Logging and capturing footage.
- Editing video clips for our shows
- Researching, Sourcing footage or video clips online.
- Interacting with the online community on the forums and elsewhere.

Promo Production Intern
The Promos Production Internship will include producing, editing, and helping to organize various promos for programming across all of our networks. They will also have the opportunity to improve existing packaging elements or create new packaging assets for our shows and networks. Emphasis on motion graphics and design. There will be ample opportunity to let your creativity flourish. You will be working one on one with the creative lead of the company and will come out of the internship with great projects for your reel or portfolio.

Necessary Skills:
- Intermediate After Effects
- Intermediate Photoshop
- Good organizational skills

Bonus Points for:
- Maya
- Cinema 4D
- Final Cut Pro

They grow up so fast! (in the Mogulverse)

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:27:45 EDT

It's amazing what happens when you mix inspiration, a little push in the right direction, and a pure kernel of fun-loving talent.

We're lucky to know long (long!) time Indy Moguler Ethan, of Red Handed Rejects. His first appearance in the world of Next New Networks was as a special guest for an episode of Weekend Extra. This was back in 2007, when Indy Mogul was popular, but not the towering behemoth it is today. We wanted to feature some videos sent in from users, especially effect tutorials, and while digging through submissions, up popped a (much younger) Ethan. (skip to 1:10)

Now, to be fair, the tutorial itself ... not the most revolutionary thing in the world. Not exactly cutting edge ... but HECK! The kid had SPIRIT! We watched, laughed, and smiled as we thought back to our days as kiddos - using the oldest tricks in the book.

Flash forward to three years of tutelage under Indy Mogul, and Ethan just walked away with one of the biggest victories in Film Fights history. Crushing the 2nd place contender by over 100 votes, with an absoutely awesome film.

It's been an honor, and so amazing, to see just how far a lot of these filmmakers who were with us from the early days, have come. We hope that we were a part of what drove them to get better at their craft, and push forward with the great dream that someday, an Oscar speech will include the phrase, "I owe it all to Indy Mogul!"

July Show Launches

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:54:59 EDT

Next New Networks launches shows and networks about twice a month. In July, we launched a total of nine shows and our food network, Hungry Nation, especially swelled with talent this time around.

Next New Networks has been working with a growing roster of talented producer in our Next New Creators program and each of the shows launched in July and listed below are part of the program.

As manager of the program, I'll be introducing each new show and the producers here on the NNN blog twice a month. We'll also be posting frequent NNC Stories highlighting episodes, milestones, and other successes from producers and shows working in the program.

To start it off, here's a look back at the busy month we had in July.

July 2010 Show Launches:

Keep the Heat

Keep The Heat is a musical comedy show focusing on all aspects of pop culture and the entertainment industry. From pop music to top movies to popular celebrities, Alex Negrete (host) creates musical parodies and hilarious spoofs for everyone to enjoy. Ranked #159 in all of YouTube, Keep The Heat allows you to control the content by submitting challenges in the form of text comments. Negrete takes your challenges and he will turn them into pure amusement.

Candy Slice Comedy

Candy Slice Comedy is a collective of lady writers, performers and crack-up artists based in New York City. They met while honing their improv and sketch chops at NYC’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre and have been making beautiful comedy together ever since. While they first made their name with uber-current pop culture spoofs, spot-on celebrity impressions and geeky gangsta rap videos, they’ll do pretty much anything to make you laugh. Their first “viral” video, a behind-the-scenes send-up of Beyonce and Lady Gaga’s Videophone, has racked up nearly 3 million YouTube views, and the hits just keep on coming. If you want to hear them talk for hours without stopping, just ask them about unicorns. Or their moms.

Food Wishes
on Hungry Nation

Chef John Mitzewich shows you how to make all different kinds of food that are really fun, easy to follow, and will improve your culinary skills. From breakfast dishes to light appetizers to main course meals to scrumptious desserts, Chef John will take you through the recipe step by step. He knows everything there is to know about food and he is ready to share it with you!

Average Betty
on Hungry Nation

Not anyone would make BBQ Chicken Mac n' Cheese Pizza, or ask the legendary Wolfgang Puck, "if I were on your menu, how would you prepare me?" Such lapses in better judgment by host, Sara O'Donnell, are precisely what make Average Betty an original, exciting and award-winning web series. Average Betty will inspire you with new, creative recipes; inform you with celebrity chef interviews; and entertain you with crazy culinary satire.

Mmm Me Gusta
on Hungry Nation

Mmm, Me Gusta is a DIY cooking show where you, the viewers, drive the content. It's a spicy cooking show by home cook, Claudia Yuskoff and her uppity cat, Missile. Since 2009, Mmm Me Gusta has blended cooking with storytelling, pop culture, cat randomness, and most importantly, good noms! Watch for yourself because Claudia (and the rest of her giant family) wants to feed you.

Stupidly Simple Snacks
on Hungry Nation

Cooking no longer needs to be a survival tactic! Stupidly Simple Snacks is a comical cooking show for non-cooks, snackers, and food lovers alike. Amy Cao (host) uses basic kitchen equipment and simple ingredients to make snacks that everyone can enjoy. Cao takes simple recipes and demonstrates to her audience how to make the food in an effort to make cooking less daunting for the inexperienced cooks like herself.

Andrea Feczko

Follow Andrea as the comedy continues on her three new shows: Z-List, Hot Mess, and Accent Goggles. Z-List is a mockumentary of Andrea’s journey toward Internet stardom using the advice from The Hills’ Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag’s How To Be Famous book. Hot Mess is a fun, light comedy show where Andrea counts down the top 3 celebrity hot messes of the week. Accent Goggles is an exclusive series of Andrea Feczko’s wild and exotic global travels that showcases more than just the sites.

Jet Set Zero

Jet Set Zero is the belief that the adventures, experiences, and awe of a jet set life are possible for anyone willing to take risks and follow a dream with passion and dedication. This is the story of 4 travelers who start with almost nothing in a foreign country and have 90 days to find housing, work, relationships and earn enough to do it all over again in the next country.

Your Daily Thread's EcoCurious
on ThreadBanger

Eco-Curious is a new DIY inspired show that shares fun was to add a little bit of eco-flair into your life. From DIY tips and recipes like make your own organic skin scrubs to instructionals like "how to take the bus" you'll see how entertaining it can be to add a little shade of green to your everyday routine.

Next New Networks Sponsors ITVFest

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:48:09 EDT

Next New Networks, the leading next generation media company providing original web series to millions of loyal, engaged viewers, today announced that they are a lead sponsor of the 5th Annual Independent TV Festival to be held in Los Angeles later this month. The festival is designed to support independently produced television and Web series.

Next New Networks, which recently celebrated one billion online video views, runs the Next New Creators (NNC) Program set-up to distribute, promote, package and monetize original Web series in partnership with independent Web producers.

Next New Creators’ programs including The Gregory Brothers’ Webby-Award Winning “Auto-Tune The News,” Grace Randolph’s “Beyond The Trailer,” Dan Delaney’s “Vendr.TV,” and Max and Rebecca Lando’s “Working Class Foodies,” to name a few, collectively reach more than 25 million viewers each month. Since launching in late 2009, more than thirty NNC producers have used the NNC program as a platform to success.

“Next New Networks is proud to sponsor ITVFest, to foster the ongoing development of awesome independent Web series,” said Kathleen Grace, vice president of programming at Next New Networks. “The Next New Creators Program has been really successful for both Next New Networks and our independent producer partners, and we’re looking forward to partnering with more Web producers in the near future. We see ITVFest as playing an important role in promoting that talent and supporting the industry, so we’re pleased to be on board.”

“ITVFest was conceived to provide talented artists with an opportunity to showcase their work and gain notoriety through their independent television efforts,” said A.J. Tesler, ITVFest Executive Director. “It’s our 5th annual event and the biggest to date with close to 300 submissions. We’re seeing a significant growth in the Web series category, which accounts for 70 percent of this year’s selections, so it’ll be interesting to monitor this emerging medium and see how it will affect people’s preference as a leading entertainment platform. We are also very excited to have so many studio executives and talent share their love of independent content as both participants and audience attendees.”

Kathleen Grace will appear on the “Developing for the Web” Seminar on August 2, at 3.30pm PT. Tickets to ITVFest can be purchased online at www.ITVFest.org.

About Next New Networks
Next New Networks is the leading provider of original, episodic series programming for the Internet. With close to one billion views since the company's launch in 2007, over two million subscribers, and some of the biggest hits on the Web, Next New Networks is redefining entertainment by championing the next generation of show creators. Popular, award-winning video networks from the company include Barely Political (home of Obama Girl and "Auto-Tune the News"); Channel Frederator, featuring the cartoons of over 1,000 creators; food network for the people Hungry Nation; car news network Fast Lane Daily; filmmaking network Indy Mogul (home of hit series Backyard FX, Beyond the Trailer, and Moviebuzz); fashion and lifestyle network ThreadBanger; and Barely Digital (home of "The Key of Awesome," one of the top five most-watched shows on the Web since its launch in October 2009).

About ITVFest
ITVFest is a non-profit organization with the mission of encouraging change in conventional television and the growth of artistic expression in television and new media. Simultaneously, ITVFest provides local, national and international artistic communities with a public forum for independently produced television pilots. ITVFest receives pilot submissions from around the world in comedy, drama, alternative (reality, animation, talk show, etc) documentary, and web series. By screening the official selections to a live audience, which includes ITVFest's executive advisory board and extensive network contacts, ITVFest provides a bridge to the inner workings of the television industry and is amongst the top festivals in providing real opportunities for filmmakers.

Next New Networks crosses 1 billion views on our web series...

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:18:41 EDT

Next New Networks crosses 1 billion views on our web series episodes, June 29th 2010.

(Screenshot by Jenei Arnold, Romania via Twitpic)

8000 episodes, 10 Webby Awards, 1 Billion Views: The Next New Audience Report

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:37:53 EDT

June 21: It’s been a couple months since our last audience report, but thanks to the many of you who have been asking for a new one; we’ve got a lot of big news to share.

COUNTING DOWN TO 1 BILLION: NEXTNEWBILLION.COM

Three years, 8,000 episodes, Ten Webby Awards, 1 Billion Views. Today we launched a campaign to celebrate our first billion views, a milestone we expect to hit in the coming month (our current count: over 980 million). On nextnewbillion.com, you can watch over 50 of our biggest hit episodes, guess the date we’re going to hit 1 billion, and download a super-cool commemorative poster, a photo-mosaic of over 5000 of our episode thumbnails.

It only took us 8,000 episodes to hit 1 billion views, meaning the average Next New Networks video gets over 125,000 lifetime views. Compare this to the average 100 lifetime views a video uploaded to the Internet gets; that’s a 1250% increase in views that’s Next New Networks’ greatest advantage.

Of course, besides building audience, we also connect creators with great opportunities, from advertising and sponsorship, like our multiple renewals with Samsung, Unilever, and Warner Brothers, to building their visibility in the industry. At this year’s Webby Awards, Auto-Tune the News took home two awards and The Reel Good Show won filmmaker Bobby Miller his second People’s Voice for Variety; to date, Next New Networks series have won an amazing ten Webby Awards in the past three years. The Gregory Brothers stole the show with their five-word acceptance speech; watch it on the Webby Awards’ YouTube Channel.

NEXT NEW MONTHLY VIEWS DOUBLE FROM JANUARY TO JUNE

From January to June 2010, our monthly views have nearly doubled, from 32.8MM to a projected 65.3MM. Driving this growth is the ongoing success of networks like Barely Digital, Fast Lane Daily and Indy Mogul, but also large growth in our creator-owned series in the Next New Creators program, which in June accounted for over 20% of Next New Networks views.

We’ve actually had a ton of momentum this year to date, with hits like The Key of Awesome, as profiled recently in Entertainment Weekly and Mashable. Follow the latest Next News on Twitter and Tumblr, where we update regularly about our web series hits and audience growth.

Read our Entertainment Weekly article.

NEXT NEW ON MASHABLE: HOW TO BUILD YOUR YOUTUBE AUDIENCE

Next New Networks’ own Vanessa Pappas recently contributed a guest byline to leading social media blog Mashable, “5 Ways to Build a Loyal Audience on YouTube,” laying out many of the best practices we use for Next New series that can benefit any business looking to be more successful on the world’s leading video site.

Here’s an excerpt:

Utilize the Platform – This is Not TV

YouTube is many things to many people, but above all it is a social medium. It’s where conversations happen, content is shared, and people engage in a very personal and direct way. By looking at some of the most successful YouTube channels, you’ll quickly learn that being authentic in your videos is rewarded while brand marketing that is disingenuous or without value gets few results. Big companies like Zappos and Southwest Airlines understand this, and are excelling via engagement.

To get the most visibility from YouTube, use all the tools at hand. People are not just watching content; they are “Liking” it, commenting on it, and sharing it through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. By encouraging such activity through either specific calls to action within your videos or using advanced features like YouTube Annotations, you increase the chances of your videos being shared and discovered by a wider audience.

Another main YouTube tool is the subscription feature. By asking your viewers to subscribe, you can convert many of them into repeat viewers and guaranteed audiences for future videos. Above all, by directly engaging with your viewers — through comments, responses, and replies to messages — you can effectively convert fans into a mobilized marketing team. Reward them by letting their voice be heard and including them in your content, and in turn you will find they will advocate on your behalf. To that end, no marketing dollar spent can match the value of personal endorsements and word of mouth from your biggest fans. At our company, we’ve seen the “pass-along” value and engagement metrics drive upwards of 40% of our traffic on top videos.

Read the whole article on Mashable.

Next New Fact of the Day: Every second, 20 people watch our videos.

Wed, 19 May 2010 18:06:14 EDT

That’s 72,000 views per hour, or 1.7 million views per day. As of today, our videos have been viewed over 908,894,862 times!

via twitter/nextnew.

Next New, The Onion, College Humor lead Webby video noms!

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:52:00 EDT

We’re really excited to be tied with our friends at The Onion as the most-nominated company in the Online Film and Video category this year with six nominations each. Our friends at College Humor and the New York Times tied for next place with five online video & film nominations (although they were also nominated in other categories, bringing College Humor’s total Webby nominations to 6 and The New York Times to 15).

Congratulations to all the other online video and film nominees as well, a great collection of some of the best producers on the web from The Muppets Studio (for their Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody) to Engadget, Current TV, Funny or Die (and Zach Galafinakis), and My Damn Channel (and Ileana Douglas).

Last year Next New Networks won an amazing six Webby and People’s Voice Awards (or seven, if you include our then-affiliated independent series Epic Fu), and we’re excited to be in position to tie or beat that this year, as each nominated show is eligible for both the Webby and the Webby People’s Voice Award.

Here are the 2010 Webby nominees from Next New Networks:

How-To and DIY: Indy Mogul’s Backyard FX
How-To and DIY: ThreadBanger
Music: $99 Music Videos
Variety: The Reel Good Show (Indy Mogul)
Video Remixes/Mashups: Auto-Tune the News (The Gregory Bros / Barely Political)
Viral: Auto-Tune the News (The Gregory Bros / Barely Political)

Congratulations especially to everyone at Next New who helped support these shows and make them awesome, and to the producers and creators who worked untold hours on them, especially Corinne Leigh, Rob Czar, Erik Beck, Jack Ferry, Melissa Schneider, Justin Johnson, Bobby Miller, Ben Relles and The Gregory Brothers.

Indy Mogul and Barely Political have been nominated and won Webby Awards before (as has Fast Lane Daily), so I’m especially happy for ThreadBanger, one of our very first and most beloved networks, to get this recognition after over three years of amazing episodes every week.

– Tim

The Gregory Bros, Next New Networks rack up three Streamy...

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:20:00 EDT

The Gregory Bros, Next New Networks rack up three Streamy Awards

We’re so proud of our friends The Gregory Bros, whose hit series “Auto-Tune the News” took home three Streamy Awards at last night’s ceremony, including Best News or Political Series, Best Experimental Series, and Best Music in a Web Series. They also killed with an amazing live performance, and thanked Next New Networks in four-part harmony, which we hope to post video of soon. Congratulations also to our other nominees, Erik Beck (Backyard FX), Mark Douglas (The Key of Awesome), and Jack Ferry and the $99 Music Videos team. Erik and Mark saved the day and hosted what felt like a good part of the evening when a few things went wrong during their presentation.

Thanks to Tubefilter for putting it all on, and congratulations to all of the other winners and nominees and friends of ours in online video who made the show a great showcase for web producers last night (despite many much-discussed snafus), including Epic Fu, Rocketboom, A Comicbook Orange, The Bannen Way, Riese, The Guild, Michael Buckley, Shane Dawson, the cast of Easy to Assemble including Ileana Douglas and Justine Bateman, Chad Hurley and YouTube, and Diggnation. Mashable has a recap of the winners and the show, and we’ll be posting more photos and video of our friends from the show soon.

Congratulations Auto-Tune the News and all the Streamys Craft Award winners!

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:21:00 EDT

Congratulations Auto-Tune the News and all the Streamys Craft Award winners!:

Above: Erik Beck with his inaugural 2009 Streamy Award for Best Visual Effects in a Web Series.

Last night the nominees and winners of the 2010 Streamys Craft Awards, honoring categories from interactive experiences to visual effects, were held in downtown LA, and Next New Networks was proud to have multiple nominations and several shows in the running: $99 Music Videos, Auto-Tune the News, Backyard FX, and The Key of Awesome.

We were really happy to see Auto-Tune the News creators The Gregory Brothers take home two Streamy Awards for Team Next New: Best Experimental Web Series and Best Original Music in a Web Series.

Next New Networks is also happy to be presenting the 2010 Craft Awards winners as part of the gala Streamys celebration this Sunday night, which you can watch live online at Streamys.org, and which will also include a special performance by The Gregory Brothers.

Below are all the winners of the 2010 Craft Awards. Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees—see you at the after-party!

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
The Secret Life of Scientists

Best Foreign Web Series
OzGirl

Best New Web Series
Odd Jobs

Best Companion Web Series
The Office: Subtle Sexuality

Best Experimental Web Series
Auto-Tune the News

Best Editing in a Web Series
The Bannen Way (Zack Arnold)

Best Cinematography in a Web Series
Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Best Art Direction in a Web Series
Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)

Best Sound Design in a Web Series
Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)

Best Visual Effects in a Web Series
Fear Clinic (Jason Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Onstad, Jason Knetge, Erik Porn, Ikuo Saito, David Dang)

Best Animation in a Web Series
theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Best Original Music in a Web Series
Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

Best Live Production in a Web Series
Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series
Valemont

Best Product Integration in a Web Series
Easy to Assemble (IKEA)

Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series
Valemont U

Adventures in Branding: The Power of Voicemail

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:57:09 EDT

Thusfar I’ve spoken here on my little branding soapbox a lot about the power of having networks to grow, foster, and expand a specific audience – but underneath all that, you need the tools to build that dedicated audience, make them feel loved and admired, and most importantly, let them know you’re LISTENING.

First we must peer back, into the deep dark past … to the year 1844, when a man by the name of Inocenzo Manzeeti first mused the idea of a “speaking telegraph.” Many minds and hands touched the concept over the following years, including such luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell and good ‘ol Edison, until the device finally came into it’s own under one greater than all those men combined – NNN co-founder Fred Seibert.

Fred and his telephone fixation first came into my life well before Next New was even a twinkle in an eye – back to the days of TNN (The Nashville Network). They had a series of spots in the mid-90s featuring shots of telephones, while playing voicemails from their viewers going on about this or that.

“What a thrilling thing!” I thought to myself. Living in a small town in Wisconsin, being on TV was something akin to a Moses/burning bush scenario. Only mighty gods were allowed to be on glowing entertaino-box! Not us common folk. The concept that I could pick up something slung on the wall a few feet from me, and have a direct line to millions of people ... handpicked by a Hollywood producer… why, the chance was just too great to pass by.

That "Hollywood producer" on the other end and the brainchild of the TNN voicemail promos was Alan Goodman, who I caught up with via (what else) telephone.

"Our shows were all 25-years-old - TNN was a network mired in a hokey depiction of Nashville. We had very old programming and wanted to young-up the audience.

The calls went from "a couple dozen" per day, to "hundreds" as the spots continued to play. The audience began to understand what kind of voicemails made it to air, and started giving Alan exactly what he wanted. They allowed TNN to do what their content couldn't do ... quickly touch on topics that had happened the day before - the network of 25-year-old shows quickly became relevant.

I never found out if the messages my teenage self left went to air, but years later in California, sitting in the back of a stretch limo with Fred and chatting, I realized that he was one of the dudes behind this very intense and memorable experience. I knew I was in the right place. Even better, now I was the one in control, pruning through voicemails on Channel Frederator and turning them into weird skits.

What are some benefits of the voicemail over other sorts of things? Well, I’m glad you asked!

A voicemail is relevant wherever the video travels. We super-distribute our videos across the Internet – and each platform has it's own unique set of features. Sure, you could ask for, and get gobs of comments on YouTube, but what happens when that video plays on iTunes? No comments there. An iTunes viewer may feel like they’re watching it in the entirely wrong context. A voicemail makes sense no matter what distrubution platform it travels to. As long as you’ve got a phone in your pocket, or on the wall, you can toss your aural hat into the ring.

A voicemail is part comment, part performance art. A statement as simple as “Wow, that episode was funny,” could take a turn for the hilarious, or the downright creepy, depending on the personality chatting into the reciever. Listening to the odd variety of voicemails over the past four years, I can honestly say you never know what to expect when you click that ‘play’ button.

In addition to all those benefits, voicemail lines are pretty cheap. We use a service from Vonage that sends an MP3 of every voicemail we receive. It’s incredibly simple to pop into content, and it costs about 20 bucks a month.

Since the foundation of Next New Networks, we’ve looked for new and interesting ways to show our audience we’re listening. The irony is that some of the oldest ways can actually be the most fun, and the most engaging. Running a web show? Consider opening up a voicemail line, and say “Audience! Come here, I want to hear you.”

Did you like this blog post? Leave Justin a voicemail and let him know! (213) 291-1883

Update 1: My first voicemail about this blog is in! From none other than Steve Garfield.

Justin Johnson is in charge of promos, branding, and packaging at Next New Networks.

Apple iPad (and Apple PIE) unboxing

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:30:34 EDT

Tim bought an iPad for the office. We were all excited to play around with it. He also brought apple PIE just for some comparison shopping. Which one do you think disapeared first???

Not April Fools: Barely Political passes 300 million views on...

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:00:41 EDT

Not April Fools: Barely Political passes 300 million views on YouTube!

The channel passed 300 million views this week, keeping it well inside YouTube’s Top 25 all-time most viewed channels. Congratulations, team.

(Not April Fools)

We’re loving: Diane Birch - Valentino - a one-take tour-de-force...

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:07:57 EDT

We’re loving: Diane Birch - Valentino - a one-take tour-de-force from Dennis Liu, who also created that really cool Mac Desktop Bird & the Bee video.

See a version of the video without the effects and be even more impressed.

— Tim

via 99dollarmusicvideos.

More Americans watching TV and Internet together: according to...

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EDT

More Americans watching TV and Internet together: according to Nielsen, nearly 60% of American viewers now report using the Internet at least once a month while also watching TV. As Late Night co-producer Gavin Purcell notes, and per my post last week, this should read as a big opportunity for producers to create some pretty innovative new media. — Tim

ThreadBanger’s great new look debuted earlier this month....

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:51:41 EDT

these are badass ladies

the new look of TB projects! DIY or DIE!

decor it yourself, for home-awesomeness

the threadbanger network's new clothes

ThreadBanger’s great new look debuted earlier this month. Here are some words from the designers:

nik says:

today threadbanger debuts its snazzy new look! major thanks to daisy andjustin for all their hard work! daisy did all the doodling, and jared took those fantastic photos. this was truly a collaborative project and i am pretty damn stoked at the results.

daisy edwards says:

Last month was a busy one of helping get the Threadbangers a new look. It’s hot, colourful and fun! Nik did a killer job organising and interpretting my ideas, Justin is a great director who steered us towards the vision he, Corrine and Meg had. And Corinne and Meg are just awesome people who take killer photos and make videos that after 3 years are still as strong as ever.

Great job, team! - Tim

Talking Back to Your TV Set, Endlessly (NY Times)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:12:00 EDT

Talking Back to Your TV Set, Endlessly (NY Times):

David Carr talks about the new way we’re watching TV thanks to social media. Not coincidentally, Carr, with a camera crew in tow, attended Twitter’s SXSW party last night, where he spent quite a while speaking with Robin Sloan and Chloe Sladden, two of the key people working to make Twitter a great medium for interactive TV.

Chloe and I also got to talk for a while, and spoke about how difficult it was to create the feedback loop that great interactive TV needs before social media was ubiquitous. I worked with networks like ABC, HBO, and FOX for several years on many of their key broadcasts (The Super Bowl, The World Series, The Olympics, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, The View) and we tried everything — set top boxes, mobile phones, SMS — with varying degrees of success, but Twitter and Facebook have made audience response easy and immediate.

While it’s been a huge tool for building the audiences of next generation internet TV companies like Next New Networks (over 40 million views last month, from over 20 million uniques) and Revision3, it’s also something that’s making broadcast and cable TV a lot more interesting and interactive as well. This is a terrifically exciting time to be a producer — anyone who doesn’t see massive opportunity here needs to start a YouTube channel, a Facebook Page and a Twitter feed and give me a call. (— Tim)

Our Comments are Different.

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EDT

If you spend any amount of time perusing the comments of online video offerings on places like YouTube, you know how often the articulations of the commenters can often be immature and off-color. We all know that it's the anonymity of the Internet that makes these individuals feel comfortable with such public behavior.

Rebecca Lando, co-host of Working Class Foodies on our network, Hungry Nation, recently wrote a post on her personal blog to highlight her audience and their comments. An except:

"I know YouTube and YouTube commenters, especially, get a lot of flak for being crass/ignorant/immature. But I just want to take a little second and say that Working Class Foodies has THE BEST AUDIENCE. I’m not bragging; I don’t think it has anything to do with me, my brother, or our show. I do think that maybe Kit’s amazing cinematography helps: we have a professional-looking product, and maybe people respond accordingly. We don’t get any flaming, ever. Literally, none. So I just want to thank, sincerely, all the fans but especially the YouTube fans of WCFoodies for making Season 1 so awesome for me, as a producer"

This is common across many of Next New Networks' other networks and shows. One of our oldest and most popular shows, Backyard FX, hosted by Erik Beck, recently announced that the show would be searching for a new host. After the inevitable wave of worry that rolled through the devoted audience, the show began publishing some of the best submissions that they received from potential new hosts. Check out Patrick's submission:

As you can see, Erik introduced the submission and simply asked his audience to provide critical feedback and to be constructive with their comments. He probably didn't even have to ask. The comments on the episode were overwhelmingly positive, constructive, and insightful.

At Next New Networks, we rely on our viewers for their feedback. When we launch new shows, we review every comment to get a feel for how it is being received. Furthermore, we rely on our viewer comments to be part of the show. Our viewers vote for their favorite cutest pet in the comments section of each week's Animal idol on Ultra Kawaii. On ThreadBanger, fans send video reponses and ask questions in the comments that are often featured in future episodes.

All across Next new Networks, we do our best to treat our viewers with respect and assign them a great deal of importance within the shows, and as part of our communities. Next New Networks' viewers and their comments are helping make the Internet a constructive and interactive platform between show creators and their audience. Hopefully, as our shows and audiences continue to grow, a better reputation for Internet commenters will emerge.

The Rise of Antisocial Media

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:30:39 EST

In our age of oversharing on the Internet, it was only a matter of time before people started looking to the same kinds of tools they use to connect with each other people to try to find ways to disconnect when those same people get to be a little… much. I couldn’t help noticing two of those tools get a little attention yesterday, just in time for SXSW:

Avoidr hilariously uses the Foursquare API to secretly designate some of your Foursquare friends as people to avoid, and warns you of there whereabouts so you can stay away. I don’t have a lot of use for something like that in my life — I’m only Foursquare friends with people I’d be really happy to have join me, like Kenyatta — but I could see people younger than me, who might be connected to friends and roommates they secretly can’t stand, exes, etc., finding this kind of useful. And the site crashed yesterday from too much traffic, so I think they hit a nerve.

Meanwhile, if there’s someone you follow on Twitter that you normally love, but they’re in the middle of something they can’t shut up about (SXSW, Olympic figure skating, The World Series, a really awesome vacation, etc.), Mutetweets gives you a temporary mute button, allowing you to unfollow them for a set period of time, then automatically add them back when the period’s over. I’ve long thought this should be a core Twitter feature, and that you should be able to mute a person without them even knowing, but until then, here’s the next best thing.

Looks like the beginning of a trend to me. What other apps are you all seeing out there that might qualify as antisocial media?

AllThingsD profiles Lance Podell, Next New Networks' CEO

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:58:39 EST

AllThingsD profiles Lance Podell, Next New Networks' CEO:

Dow Jones’ All Things Digital caught up with our CEO Lance Podell as part of their regular look at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.

Who: Lance Podell

What: Chief Executive Officer

Why: According to Lance, Next New Networks is aiming to transform its existing lineup of 12 Web TV “networks” into a content behemoth that competes with the big cable guys. Oh yeah, and they plan to monetize it too. Eye rolling aside, at the end of 2009, they were nearly profitable.

Where: nextnewnetworks.com (Web site); @NextNewNetworks (Twitter); New York, NY (analog place)

Who else: You name it. They compete for face time with an armada of YouTube stars (although they try to recruit some of them too). How do they stack up? Well, the camera work in the latest webisode from YouTube star Fred isn’t anything to write home about, but you don’t have to sit through video advertising either.

[read full interview; video excerpt below]

February 2010: Our biggest month ever.

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:46:27 EST

March 04: February may be the shortest month of the year, but for Next New Networks it was a record viewership month in our three year history, breaking well past 40 million views across our dozens of web series.

February’s record views were led by the YouTube megahit comedy series Key of Awesome, featuring Mark Douglas and Weezer, as well as our ongoing hit series like Beyond the Trailer, Backyard FX, and Movie Buzz (all on Indy Mogul), ThreadBanger, and Fast Lane Daily, all of which posted some of their best months to date. In addition, both Channel Frederator and Barely Digital doubled their views in February from the previous month, and our newest network, Hungry Nation, grew over 50%.

This comes on the heels of some other great news for Next New Networks: we recently announced our 2009 viewership results, where we broke 750 million all-time views and one million subscribers to our networks on all outlets including YouTube, podcasts, and email (read all about it on TechCrunch). In February, another milestone was reached, when we broke 1 million subscribers on YouTube alone, as shown by the growth chart below.

We were also happy to learn this week of the Next New Networks series that were named as nominees in the second annual Streamy Awards (of which we took two home last year), which honors the best in original series for the web, as voted by audiences and top industry creators. These included four nominations for breakout Barely Political hit Auto-Tune the News (part of our Next New Creators program), a Best Visual Effects nomination for Indy Mogul, Best Original Music for Key of Awesome, and Best Art Direction for $99 Music Videos. The Streamys will be held on April 11th in Los Angeles and will be a must-watch event for anyone interested in web series and internet TV.

Check out our #1 episode for the month of February, Key of Awesome episode 13, "TIK TOK Ke$ha Parody," which posted over 4.5 million views last month, as well as a popular episode of Indy Mogul's Next New Creators series "Beyond the Trailer" and two of our "Cop Out"-themed comedy videos from last month, which aired as part of Cop Out's Best in Jest YouTube sponsorship.

Adventures in Branding: SHOW me the NETWORKS!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:06:40 EST

One of the biggest up-hill branding battles we’ve had here over the past three years, is explaining our rather unorthodox (in the context of web video) framework of shows and networks.

If you flip on The History Channel, you don’t expect to see “History Channel The Show” for 24 hours a day, but you do expect to see some kind of programming that relates to history (or at the very least, a bunch of local actors cavorting about in cheesy costumes). Be it “Modern Marvels,” “History of Sex,” or “Ancient Discoveries,” if you’re a fan of the History Channel, you’ll be tuning in. They have the freedom to bring on new content whenever they want, and as long as it fits their mold, you’ll be all smiles.

In the same way, if you tune your internets machine to “Hungry Nation,” you could catch an episode of “12 Second Cocktails,” “Tamra Davis Cooking Show,” “VendrTV” or “Working Class Foodies.” Each has a unique voice, a unique perspective, but we trust that if you’re a big fan of Rebecca and Max’s low budget "Working Class" gourmet, you’ll fancy the tasty treats whipped up on "Tamra Davis." No need for four subscriptions, we give you your foodie fix four days a week, on schedule, consistently. Whatever it is, we guarantee it’ll be “Real People, Real Food.” – and you can take that promise to the OVEN. < pretty good right guys? just came up with that on the spot

Where we benefit most from this is flexibility. Imagine if “Crush on Obama” had been a part of the “Obama Girl Channel” instead of Barely Political? By making that smash hit a part of a larger network, creator Ben Relles was able to fashion it from a one-personality outfit, into a cavalcade of creativity. From “The Ward Room” with Rusty Ward, to “Auto Tune the News,” the Barely Political brand is most certainly still related to Obama Girl, but it’s also a consistent comedic voice that subscribers can count on. No need to throw out a dozen spin-offs you need to plead the audience to join, BP can grow bigger, stronger, and of course, more hilarious.

Another part of the Show / Network strategy (that we’re still tweaking as we go), is the savviest way of communicating that hierarchy to the audience.

On the video end, all the programming we distribute has a Network Intro – a short bumper that introduces our brand, be it spinning film reels on Indy Mogul, or cute critters on Ultra Kawaii, we want to say “Hello!” right up front.

Just like the big boys, we also put a Network Bug on our content. This bug isn’t just there to look pretty, it also serves a function on major distribution partners like YouTube – we turn it into a “subscribe” button via the magic of annotations!

On the design side of things, on all our Next New Network show pages, the user has a breadcrumb to pop back to the mother brand. On YouTube, all our designs feature a “Promo Box,” a simple way we can tie together like-minded networks and shows. It’s working, a feature in that area on an uber-popular channel like Barely Political can drive a fair amount of clicks (you'll be seeing this spot used pretty heavily next week for some special Oscars programming).

Building the reach, variety, and power of our networks ensures a strong, dedicated set of viewers, and gives us as programmers the freedom to expand that network as needed.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a dozen episodes of “Modern Marvels” to catch up on …

Justin Johnson is in charge of promos, branding, and packaging at Next New Networks.

Another nBot An alternate version of the n-bot I bet...

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:01:35 EST

Another nBot

An alternate version of the n-bot I bet you’ve never seen. By Interspectacular illustrator Stan Chow.

Press Release: Our 2009 Milestones

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:29:37 EST

Next New Networks Leads Adoption of TV for the Internet with More Than 300 Million Views and One Million Subscribers in 2009

Company leading charge in driving mainstream adoption of TV for the Internet

NEW YORK, NY – February 10, 2010 – Next New Networks, the leading online television company, today announced its company milestones for 2009. Viewership is at an all-time high with over 300 million views across its networks for 2009 and 700 million total views since launching in March of 2007. In addition, the company saw record growth in advertising with doubled revenue from 2008 to 2009 and a 70% increase in the number of sponsors.

“This year marked an inflection point for Next New Networks and for online television as a whole,” said Lance Podell, CEO of Next New Networks. “We’re seeing the lines blur between mainstream and Web content. More and more, consumers are turning to original Web series in addition to, and in many cases, to replace their TV viewing. We’re thrilled to be leading the charge.”

The company’s growth in viewership was helped by the launch of a new talent initiative, Next New Creators (NNC), a program to bring the best and the brightest of Web video under the Next New Networks umbrella. Over the course of the year, the company launched three new networks, Barely Digital, $99 Music Videos and Hungry Nation, and partnered under the NNC banner to produce, distribute and promote 15 new shows including pop culture sensation “Auto-Tune the News.” Created by the Gregory Brothers and hosted on the Barely Political network, “Auto-Tune the News” generated over 40 million views in addition to being featured on hundreds of mainstream media outlets.

Other new series from the NNC program that are winning mass audiences include “Beyond the Trailer” and “MovieBuzz,” which both run on the Indy Mogul network, and have passed the one million monthly views milestone. Of Next New Networks’ current series lineup, eight of them exceed one million views per month, and four exceed two million a month, with shows such as “The Key of Awesome” and “Auto-Tune the News” regularly among YouTube’s most popular shows in Comedy and Entertainment.

Next New Networks’ flagship networks also showed great growth in 2009. Indy Mogul more than doubled in viewership in 2009 with over 100% growth. ThreadBanger grew 67%, while Next New Networks’ comedy offerings – Barely Political and its spinoff Barely Digital grew 35% from 2008 to 2009. Network Ultra Kawaii grew 24%. Next New Networks realized many other successes this year as the online television trend took hold in the mainstream. Highlights include:

NNN’s networks grew to over one million subscribers on YouTube, podcasts and e-mail, a 300% increase from 2008.
NNN’s series won seven Webby Awards in the online video category, more than any other media company.
The Barely Digital network introduced “Key of Awesome,” a musical parody show that surpassed 18 million views in less than four months, and recently partnered with top indie rock band Weezer to find the best music parodies on the Web.
Fan favorite Bobby Miller, host of “The Reel Good Show with Bobby Miller” on the Indy Mogul network, beat Jimmy Fallon for a Webby People’s Voice Award and had his short film “Tub” featured at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
The New York Times Magazine profiled Next New Networks, comparing the company to “MTV in its heyday,” recognizing that viewers tune in for “a sensibility, a lifestyle,” that’s “pretty sweet.”
Next New Networks series and creators were featured in numerous media outlets throughout the year, including multiple CBS Evening News segments, The O’Reilly Factor, The Colbert Report, WIRED, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, TechCrunch, AdAge, OMMA, Mashable, Business Insider, The Associated Press, and USA Today.

In addition to audience growth, Next New Networks also saw continued growth in advertising. During the past year, a number of leading brand advertisers ran successful ad campaigns including Samsung, Warner Brothers, Target, Verizon and Frito-Lay, among others. Next New Networks’ work with Initiative on Barely Political for the Lionsgate movie “W” won the AdWeek 2009 Buzz Award for Best Viral Marketing Campaign, and their work for Starburst on “Nite Fite” was recognized in an OMMA Magazine “Agency of the Year” recognition for Next New Networks’ partner Digitas.

“We’ve seen continuing, growing interest and engagement from advertisers in our networks, and for online video as a whole,” said Podell. “This past year proved that audiences continue to grow in online video and advertisers have recognized this as a powerful way to reach a highly engaged consumer. 2010 will bring continued interest from consumers and advertiser investment as the space matures.”

According to AdAge's “The Economics of Online Video” whitepaper based on data from Nielsen and comScore, “more U.S. viewers watch Web video than watch recorded TV on DVRs (and often skip the ads), according to Nielsen Online. Online video claims a bigger share of time spent on the Web than e-mail, and it’s closing in fast on news. In November, during the Fall TV season, more than 170 million Americans, or more than half the U.S. population, watched an average of 182 videos each, according to comScore.”

About Next New Networks

Next New Networks is TV for the Internet. As the leading independent producer of online television networks Next New Networks creates, packages, brands, markets and syndicates some of the Web's most popular regularly scheduled and episodic programming. Since its inception in March 2007, the company has launched sixteen networks, and its programming has been viewed more than 700 million times. Hit programming from Next New Networks includes Channel Frederator (home of the popular series "Nite Fite"), Barely Political (the creators of Obama Girl), food network for the people Hungry Nation, daily auto news network Fast Lane Daily, DIY filmmaking network Indy Mogul, lifestyle network ThreadBanger, tech comedy network Barely Digital and your one-stop showcase of the cutest pets across the globe, Ultra Kawaii. The company, headquartered in New York, is privately owned, with investors including Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Saban Capital and Fuse Capital. For more information, please visit www.nextnewnetworks.com.

Contact:

LaunchSquad
Alexis Wilson or Greer Karlis
415-625-8555
nnn@launchsquad.com

REMINDER: come on out to tonight’s Social Media Week...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:52:00 EST

REMINDER: come on out to tonight’s Social Media Week event, The Secrets to Getting Seen, with Next New Networks.

Come help us celebrate another great year and break in our brand new, next new studios with all our producers, stars, and friends. 5:30pm - 8pm. Facebook link.

22 W 21st St, 10th floor
New York, NY 10010

Refreshments, music, fun, and killer online video insights will be served.

A slightly innacurate history of Indy Mogul

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:14:49 EST

Indy Mogul, being the "first network for the YouTube generation," gets a lot of submissions from up-and-coming filmmakers and fans. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it is to pour through all the great stuff we get in - but there are always clips so fun ... they stand out from the crowd.

Big thanks to Ryan Stark for putting this together

"This is a video I created about NNN and BackYard Effects. I used this video for my report for college because this show was my favorite thing across the internet. Though some of the facts might be off a bit, it's very good to inform viewers and film guru's about your site and show. "

The YouTube Interview with President Obama...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:51:00 EST

The YouTube Interview with President Obama (via citizentube)

This is both one of the most interesting Presidential interviews and one of the coolest interactive productions I’ve ever seen. Congratulations to Steve Grove, YouTube’s news and politics editor, and all our friends at YouTube for putting this together.

Finally, a touchable TV. Oh, the things we’ll do. This...

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:33:00 EST

Finally, a touchable TV. Oh, the things we’ll do.

This thing better support YouTube annotations, is all I can say.

YouTube's Music Discovery Project

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:50:00 EST

YouTube's Music Discovery Project:

I was surprised to find out a little while back that lots of kids use YouTube as a free music service by making playlists of their favorite music videos (or in many cases, simply songs that have been uploaded as a video with a static image) and playing them in a background window or tab (after realizing this, I was able to VJ a recent Next New Networks / $99 Music Videos party with a playlist of classic ‘80’s MTV era videos and nothing more than a laptop and a Sprint MiFi router).

YouTube’s now officially embraced this behavior as a feature with their cool new Music Discovery Project - type in an artist’s name and go. Full-screen on a computer with some decent speakers, it’s hard to beat, except for the slightly annoying pop-up ads.

My recommendation: search for “Bat for Lashes” and hit full-screen play.

(via Gavin Purcell. For another cool, free browser-based music discovery experience, check out the recently launched thesixtyone.)

Adventures in Branding: The Mothership

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:00:21 EST

Hi everyone! Let me take a quick moment to re-introduce myself. I started with the company four years ago when NNN co-founder Fred hired me to create short, audience-building promos for his animation podcast Channel Frederator. It was a task I had a barrel full o' fun with for a good year until I was asked to come on to Next New Networks as their first creative hire.

Since that time, I moved from creating short and weird videos for all the networks we launched, to working more with freelancers and looking at our branding from a company-wide perspective.

We do things a bit differently here at Next New Networks. Most "shows" on the Internet are just that ... a single, solitary show. When it stops, that's it! Kaput! The audience wanders the digital wasteland listlessly seeking the next thing that might tickle their fancy.

While we certainly have a plenitude of shows here at Next New Networks, we're in the business of building something bigger. We're bulding network brands. Each brand, laser-targeted at a specific audience, and enforced throughout the programming.

Above it all ... hovering like the alien mothership from "District 9," is Next New Networks.

The internet is all about transparency. Fact of the matter is, even our uber-indie filmmaking network Indy Mogul, which caters to up-and-coming filmmakers and fans of film alike, is bankrolled by a corporation. How do we broach that with the audience? How do we tell our story without alienating them? We've found it's rarely, if ever been an issue, and in fact has helped us with cross-promoting new networks, and even dealing with the sensitive issue of advertising.

Case in point, when we snagged our first ad deal for a major motion picture to run on Indy Mogul ("War"). Overwhelmingly, the audience was excited about the ad deal, and while there were scattered cries of "sell out," those were few and far between. The Mogulers got their special effects fix, and "War" got the promotion it was looking for.

When we launched our new food network, Hungry Nation ("Real People. Real Food"), we saw an immediate like-minded audience with our DIY fashion network, ThreadBanger. Our most powerful voice to the audience is the show hosts themselves, so we ran a simple promo at the end of every ThreadBanger episode, informing our fine viewers about the latest network from Next New Networks.

The matchmaking was spot-on, and blog posts began popping up extolling the joys of finding this extra serving of delicious DIY.

"What I love about Threadbanger and Working Class Foodies is that it shows real people (ok, real kids--why is 20-something so ungodly young to me these days?) in real homes doing real projects." (via consciouslyfrugal.blogspot.com)

"While checking my weekly threadbanger episodes, i stumbled upon this new show by their network. It reminds me a lot of my brother and i and our love for food. Really, we love food. So does Jeff. We are hungry all the time." (via everydaynewday.blogspot.com)

We don't want it to feel like our networks live in an isolated pod. The more we can push the story of the larger whole, the larger group of minds and curators, the more we can build a higher level of trust with our millions of viewers lead them to more stuff they're gonna dig the heck out of!

What do you think about Next New Networks branding? What can we do better to tell our story? Would love to hear, and respond to your feedback below.

Next New Networks' Barely Digital and Weezer announce The Contest of Awesome!

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:33:35 EST

Have you ever wondered if you are awesome? More to the point, have you wondered if you can make sweet comedic melodies in the key of awesome? Ever since hits like Lazy Sunday and Jib Jab's "This Land" music comedy videos have been a staple of online video. Last year hundreds of hilarious music videos were posted to YouTube. And now we are here to announce the first award to recognize independent talent in this category.

Barely Digital and the music parody show "The Key of Awesome" are holding a Contest of Awesome to declare the Best Online Music Comedy Video of the past year. The winner will win a CAMEO in an upcoming Weezer music video for a song off their new album, Raditude.

That's right, a cameo! You can hear it from the man himself, lead singer of Weezer and all around good guy, Rivers Cuomo with our Key of Awesome star, Mark Douglas.

So want to know if you're eligible? Make sure to check out the contest site and to submit your own video of Awesomeness. Enter now! Submission deadline is midnight January 27th 2010.

12 lucky finalists will be chosen and announced on Friday January 29th and then voting will commence. We'll be tallying the votes from your peers and consulting our judges' panel (that includes Weezer!) to find the winner of the Contest of Awesome -- to be revealed on February 10th. So stay tuned!

The contest is part of the new show Key of Awesome on Barely Digital where every week a new parody song debuts from the mind of Mark Douglas, covering everything from LOLCats to Lady Gaga to the Jersey Shore. The series has been a huge Youtube hit and seen online over 15 million times since it's launch in October of 2009, and most recently the Jersey Shore music parody video was aired on MTV as part of a special.

Barely Digital is the follow up network from Next New Networks creator Ben Relles, who joined NNN after the music parody video "I Got a Crush on Obama." Since launching in January 2009, Barely Digital videos have been seen over 80 million times.

Alright so what are you waiting for? If you have created a music comedy video in the past year or know someone who has, nominate them now to be declared AWESOME!

Haiti: What you can do to help

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:04:08 EST

Photo by REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

With up to 3 million people affected, we're witnessing one of the worst humanitarian crises of our lifetimes right now, very close by in Haiti. For Next New Networks viewers, we're collecting ways you can help and get involved. Find out more about what's happening in Haiti and the scope of the crisis.

How you can help now:

Donate to the Red Cross.
Send a text message to 90999 with the word HAITI and donate $10 directly to the Red Cross' relief efforts. $2 million has been raised as of Thursday via this program, but if every mobile phone user in America took the time to do this, it would raise over $2.5 billion. 100% of your $10 goes to relief; the carriers have waived all SMS fees and charges. I know the people who run this program and can verify this first hand -- also, you can text multiple times to donate more. You can support the Red Cross in other ways at http://www.redcross.org.

Support Yele Haiti
Yele Haiti, a foundation started by the Fugees' founder and Haiti native Wyclef Jean, is raising money for their own relief efforts by SMS as well. Text "Yele" to 501501 to give $5 to their relief projects, and learn more about them at http://yele.org.

Support Partners in Health
Partners in Health is already on the ground and making a direct difference in Haiti. According to the TED Blog, they need help with everything from raising money to procuring water purification systems, helicopters and private planes to provide relief. You can also donate in-kind items they need like medicine, food, blankets, supplies, and satellite phones by emailing procurement@pih.org. Lastly, if you're medically trained, they need an army of trained trauma surgeons, pediatric trauma surgeons, burn specialists, nurse anesthetists, and trauma nurses who can donate their time and expertise.

Consider supporting or volunteering for some of these other organizations providing basic relief, food, and medical services:

There's a larger list of organizations and programs at CNN.com/Impact.

Share this page: http://nextnewnetworks.com/helpnow | Twitter short link and hashtag: http://nxtnw.tv/5gZIKV #helpnow

A special Jersey Shore Barely Digital shoot. Coming soon....

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:07:00 EST

A special Jersey Shore Barely Digital shoot. Coming soon. (via iansanity)

Above, a phototour of the new office in Manhattan’s...

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:42:00 EST

Our new office!

The elevators are tiny!

Here's my cube.

And my desk! It needs some decorating...

The studio.

Most importantly...

... The kitchen!

Say hi to Trish!

...and to Rob and Erik (IM/TB workshop)

Frieght elevator for BIKES and PUPPIES!

Above, a phototour of the new office in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, taken on our first day (Monday) by our own Michelle Deforest.

Everyone’s really loving the new space — we hope you’ll come on by and visit us.

Moments we loved in 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:30:30 EST

Michelle and Justin, with a little help from Kathleen and me, put together a reel of some (but certainly not all) of the best moments from Next New Networks in 2009. It was an incredible year: our videos were viewed over 350 million times, we launched dozens of great projects, and worked with hundreds of the most talented video creators on the web. I don't know how we'll top it in 2010, but we're sure going to try.

Happy new year, everyone!

Featuring: Amber Ettinger, Corinne Leigh, Rob Czar, Project Jenny Project Jan ($99 Music Videos), Michael Johnson, Derek DeAngelis, Julia Allison, Meghan Asha, Mary Rambin, Rebecca Lando, Max Lando, Grace Randolph, Daniel Delaney, Meg Allan Cole, Will Cole, Michael Stevens, Erik Beck, Mark Douglas, Andrea Feczko, T-Pain, Michael Gregory, Katie Couric, Caitlin Hill, Tom Small, Bobby Miller, MeMe Molly, Matthias Sundberg, Charlie, Justin Johnson, and Marissa Nystrom; and the behind-the-scenes talents of many more, including especially Kathleen Grace, Felicia Williams, Alan Kaufman, Ian Jenkins, JF Musial, Sherng-Lee Huang, Jack Ferry, Melissa Schneider, Kit Pennebaker, John Sabia, Jake Chudnow, Ryan Nugent, and the whole Next New Networks team.

Moments we loved in 2009. Michelle and Justin, with a little...

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:09:00 EST

Moments we loved in 2009.

Michelle and Justin, with a little help from Kathleen and me, put together a reel of some (but certainly not all) of the best moments from Next New Networks in 2009. It was an incredible year: our videos were viewed over 350 million times, we launched dozens of great projects, and worked with hundreds of the most talented video creators on the web. I don’t know how we’ll top it in 2010, but we’re sure going to try.

Happy new year, everyone!

Via Michelle and Justin: Fast Lane Daily shooting an episode in...

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:33:00 EST

Via Michelle and Justin: Fast Lane Daily shooting an episode in the middle of our office move. New office opens next week!

Our Next New Office

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:43:03 EST

Next New Networks is Moving!

As of Jan 4, you can find us in our new offices and studio space near the Flatiron Building in downtown Manhattan. We'll share more soon including photos and a tour, but in the meantime, if you want to update your address books, here's the info:

22 W 21st St, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10010
Between 5th Ave and 6th Ave

Nearest subway stops: R,W at 23rd St

Hope to see you all in the new year.

Announcing Next New Creators

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:37:00 EST

Today we announced Next New Creators, our new program to support the best new creative talent in Internet television and online video. This has been in the works for a long time, started as a new way of working with talent by a few of us late last year and growing to include almost everyone at Next New Networks contributing in some way. Thanks to all for working so hard to get this right.

Below are two popular episodes that have come from Next New Creators, as examples of the new creators we’re getting to work with in the program.

“Charlie and Kanye Auto-Tuned,” by The Gregory Bros, created to promote the 2010 Webby Awards:

A movie-sponsored episode of Grace Randolph’s Beyond the Trailer:

Very excited to throw the doors open and start working with a lot more people. Our official press release is excerpted below, with more details on the program.

Next New Networks Formally Announces ‘Next New Creators’ Program

Leading Online Television Company Launches Program to Support Emerging Creative Talent

NEW YORK, NY—(Marketwire - December 16, 2009) - Next New Networks, the leading online television company, today announced the formal launch of Next New Creators, a program designed to discover and foster talent from across the Web. Through the program, Next New Networks will partner with up-and-coming independent creators to distribute, promote, package and monetize their shows.

The Next New Creators program, which has been in the works since early 2009, has already proven to be a successful venture for Next New Networks, helping increase the popularity and viewership of its first slate of participants. Initial partners have included Grace Randolph’s “Beyond the Trailer,” Gregory Brothers’ “Auto-Tune the News,” Daniel Delaney’s “Vendr.TV,” Max and Rebecca Lando’s “Working Class Foodies” and LushLife NY’s “12 Second Cocktails.”

Read the full release.

Come see us at the Four Screens holiday breakfast panel!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:26:05 EST

Come see Next New Networks CEO Lance Podell and other great speakers from mobile, TV, the web and everywhere else media is viewed these days at “The Four Screens,” a special holiday breakfast event this Thursday at the Time Warner Center.

Hope to see you there — register now before seats run out!

We're #1 on YouTube (again)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:58:00 EST

Getting the #1 slot on YouTube’s “Popular” page (the main page at youtube.com/videos) is the holy grail for all YouTube partners, and these days we’re happy to be hitting it on a monthly basis.

It’s always worth noting when we do it, though. Today it’s for Barely Digital’s “Top 10 Hottest Comic Book Girls,” starring Amber Ettinger, embedded below.

A note to web video producers that bloggers have known for years: the Internet loves lists. And in this case, they especially love them when they’re fun, voted on by the viewers, and include Amber turning into Wonder Woman.

8 Companies That Are Reinventing TV Online (Mashable)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:43:00 EST

8 Companies That Are Reinventing TV Online (Mashable):

Next New Networks was highlighted in this great industry roundup as a company making “bona fide TV networks on the web, delivering regularly scheduled programming just like NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, or The CW do.”

Other leaders in the article included Hulu, Apple, Revision 3, Joss Whedon and Funny or Die; what great company to be in. We’re honored to have made the list—a lot more to do in 2010!

Channel Frederator tops the charts again

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:58:57 EST

Founding Next New Network Channel Frederator made iTunes’ Best of 2009 podcast list for the third year in a row (iTunes link). This year Channel Frederator rolled out a new website, new format, and a new series, and brought hundreds more cartoon creators onto the network. Check out the shows and subscribe in your favorite format, from iTunes to Tivo to YouTube, at the Channel Frederator website.

Congrats to the great team contributing to the show, including Bobby, Matthias, Justin, Kathleen, Nik, Bailee, Carrie, and Eric, and our own inimitable Fred.

And congrats to many of our other friends in web video who made the list, including The Onion News Network, Man and Wife, Revision3, CollegeHumor’s Jake and Amir, and 2009’s awesome new Old Jews Telling Jokes.

The t-shirt will be proudly displayed in the NNN office for all...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:27:39 EST

The t-shirt will be proudly displayed in the NNN office for all time. Thanks Derek!

thechuckster:

The Bob Shubin, Jr. Fan Club

Ben Relles, Liam Collins, and Tim Shey sporting the secret santa gift to-end-all gifts, The Derek D. shirt!

Merry Christmas!

At the Boxee Beta Event

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:56:30 EST

Next New's Michelle DeForest with LaunchSquad's Miko Mercer at the Boxee Beta unveiling, which was the place to be in online video last night. We're excited for our office mates and partners at Boxee, who unveiled a brilliant new interface and a very cool little set-top box. Some good recaps: NewTeeVee, WIRED. Click through for more pics by Leora Israel. (via randomnightout)

Indy Mogul's Bobby Miller is headed to Sundance!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:38:00 EST

We’re excited to share the news today that our own Bobby Miller, host and producer of Indy Mogul’s The Reel Good Show, our animation network Channel Frederator, and the Webby Award-winning series The Best Short Films in the World, has gotten his short film, TUB, accepted into the Sundance Film Festival’s shorts program! Read the official Sundance release.

This is the first time a Next New Networks creator and a member of the Indy Mogul community is going to Sundance as a competing filmmaker, and we’re going to be excited for Bobby to share his experience with the filmmakers and movie lovers on Indy Mogul over the coming months.

Check out the trailer for Tub below, and you can also reblog Bobby’s original post on Tumblr to help spread the word.

One of Bobby’s previous claims to fame was his epic campaign to beat Jimmy Fallon for a Webby Award, which culminated in Fallon endorsing Bobby on G4’s Attack of the Show, as covered by NewTeeVee, and Bobby picking up the People’s Voice Award for Best Variety series. Here’s one of Bobby’s latest episodes of The Reel Good Show, which is one of our best shows you need to be watching.

Director Tamra Davis Joins Next New Networks' Hungry Nation

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:32:24 EST

We're very excited to welcome Tamra Davis and her web series, 'The Tamra Davis Cooking Show,' to Hungry Nation and Next New Networks. Tamra is an accomplished film, TV and music video director as well as a real-world mom who loves to cook. Her combined passions for filmmaking, family, and food led her to take her family's diet into her own hands (while holding a videocamera in the other) and start her own web series that's now part of our Hungry Nation food network.

Tamra has directed feature films like Half-Baked and Billy Madison, episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and My Name is Earl, and videos for Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, and more. But her busy work schedule doesn't stop her from being a Mom to her two boys and cooking nutrious meals for the family.

Tamra's show provides family-driven foodie content for the Hungry Nation network, and we've launched the show with a sponsorship from Samsung and their line of kitchen appliances. Each week on the show, Tamra shows viewers how to cook healthy and delicious meals with a focus on fun and nutrition, via recipes that are easy and always have the working mom in mind.

As Tamra says, "A recipe has the structure and pacing of a perfect short film. It has a beginning (you shop or plan), a middle (you cook) and an end (you eat!)." With this in mind, sit back and enjoy the narrative arc of Tamra's latest work with the most recent episode of Hungry Nation's The Tamra Davis Cooking Show. Enjoy!

Great photo of our stellar web and UI designer at Next New...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:43:29 EST

Great photo of our stellar web and UI designer at Next New Networks, Nik, who’s organizing some talent photo shoots this week.

nikography: more pre-shoot stuff. jared was testing things.

steve woolf: From the 2008 Tumblr/NNN SXSW party. Found while...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:16:00 EST

steve woolf:

From the 2008 Tumblr/NNN SXSW party. Found while cleaning out some files.

How will Autoshare change web video?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:22:00 EST

Recently, YouTube began actively promoting its new Autoshare feature to its registered users, a feature which can instantly publish an update to Facebook, Twitter or Google Reader whenever a user rates, favorites, or comments on a video.

For companies with a lot of YouTube activity like Next New Networks (on average, we get over 2,000 comments and 6,000 ratings and favorites each day), we’re likely to be seeing our videos there embedded on Facebook and linked on Twitter much more than ever before, and we’re already seeing a pickup. Take our “Lord Gaga” parody video, released last night, which amassed 200,000 views in its first 24 hours and is one of YouTube’s top 10 most viewed videos of the day.

According to bit.ly, the video was linked over 90 times on Twitter and shared on over 1000 Facebook pages, and a quick scan shows that 1 out of every 4 of the Twitter links came from YouTube active sharing, meaning we’ve gotten about a 33% gain in linkage from the feature than we might otherwise have had. It’s too early to tell how much total increase viewership this is leading to, although we’ve found Facebook embeds and Twitter links often contribute up to 50% of the critical early traffic within the first 8 hours that helps break a viral video, getting them in front of blogs and Popular or Most Viewed sctions of video sites.

Two other breakout videos from yesterday, Muppet Studios’ Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody and Boing Boing Video’s video game character wedding showed a different percentage according to bit.ly—with less than 5% of their tweets coming from Active Sharing—but this may reflect that the videos seemed to get much more of their views via blog embeds, where they went viral in many top blogs, than direct viewing from YouTube’s site.

YouTube isn’t the first video platform with active sharing—Boxee, for instance, has this feature in their Alpha release, and Tumblr and Facebook can automatically publish a YouTube user’s feed and activity. But with YouTube making up the lion’s share of online video viewing and sharing, active sharing just took a huge step forward.

The question is, is this the beginning of a trend, and will more video platforms implement auto-sharing features with Twitter and Facebook Connect? Depending on how users react, it could be a great step forward, or a feature that adds more noise in social media—we’re sure there’s some fine-tuning to come.

Twilight Sucks, Emo Vampires: Our Top Ten Comedy Music Videos

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:18:12 EST

Nov 20 - Today our latest hit series, “The Key of Awesome,” with comedian Mark Douglas creating a funny music video every week about what people are talking about on the web, is being spotlighted on the front page of YouTube for its latest episode, “Twilight Sucks, the Emo Vampire Song,” and for this week’s audience report we’re highlighting our most-viewed comedy music videos of the past two years.

Comedy music videos are arguably the most popular genre of original video online, and they’ve been a huge part of our audience-building, bringing millions of viewers to networks like Barely Political, Indy Mogul, and Channel Frederator in a way no marketing spend ever could. And now we’re seeing they can work as regular series: The Key of Awesome racked up 1 million views in its first three weeks, and “Auto-Tune the News,” as noted in previous reports, was our runaway hit of the summer. It’s yet another example of how every new medium creates new formats and new stars, which is what Next New Networks is all about.

Thanks to everyone who came out to last night’s “Barely Digital and Friends Live” concert last night, which featured many of our biggest musical comedy stars — it was a fantastic show, and we’ll be posting lots of photos and footage on our blog in the coming week.

Next New Networks Top 10 Comedy Music Videos as of November 2009

Super Obama Girl (Barely Political) (16.3 MM views)
I Got a Crush on Obama (Barely Political) (16 MM)
Auto-Tune the News #2: Miss California, Gay Marriage (Barely Political) (4.8 MM)
Debate ‘08: Giuliani Girl vs. Obama Girl (Barely Political) (3.4 MM)
Internet People (Channel Frederator) (3.4 MM)
She Wants My… Stimulus Package (Barely Digital) (3.1 MM)
Political Sex Scandals (Barely Political) (2.9 MM)
Hillary! Stop the Attacks! (Barely Political) (2.4 MM)
Kanye & Charlie Auto-Tuned (Barely Digital) (2.3 MM)
Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap (Indy Mogul) (1.9 MM)

Next New Networks Top 10 Current Episodes, Week of Nov 8-14

Tumblr Marriage Proposal: Behind the Scenes of Justin and Marissa’s Engagement (NewTeeVee)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:35:00 EST

Our own Justin Johnson and his lovely longtime girlfriend Marissa got engaged last night (congrats!!), and Justin’s proposal method — taking over the Tumblr dashboard — sort of took over the Internet. NewTeeVee’s Shannon Miller has the whole behind-the-scenes story:

Justin Johnson, creative services lead at Next New Networks and one of the original writers for College Humor, was sitting at home yesterday with his girlfriend of six years, Marissa Nystrom. It was about 6:30 p.m. EST, their sixth anniversary as a couple, and a quiet night. They were making spaghetti for dinner, Nystrom was checking her Facebook and Tumblr accounts, and Johnson was nervous as hell.

About a month prior, Johnson had begun working with the team at Tumblr to create a wedding proposal that suited them as a couple — a big, splashy takeover of every Tumblr user’s dashboard, in which he’d pop the question in a post only Nystrom could respond to. That night, Johnson had just used a “secret link” to activate the proposal post, meaning that soon the entire Tumblr universe would be able to see it…except that his first attempt to activate it didn’t work.

Read the rest at NewTeeVee, and congratulations Justin and Marissa! In many ways they were the very first couple (of many) to make videos together for Next New Networks, and I can’t think of a better way for them to move on to the next big step.

Here are a few of my favorite Justin-Marissa videos from the past few years.

Channel Frederator, “Relationship Counselor (watch on Google Video)

Indy Mogul, Snorricam Party Music Video (with lots of other NNN peeps)

Channel Frederator, “Fred On”

In NYC This Week: Come out to Barely LIVE!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:36:53 EST

To our friends who will be in New York City this week: we’re putting on a LIVE show Thursday night, November 19th, with the stars from many of Barely Political and Barely Digital’s greatest hits.

That’s right, all your favorites, on stage, LIVE November 19th at the Canal Room in NYC. Scheduled to perform:

The Gregory Brothers - creators of the hit series “Auto-Tune the News.”
Amber Lee Ettinger and Leah Kaufman, performing a series of Obama Girl songs.
Mark Douglas - creator of the new series “Key of Awesome.”
Mike Relm - DJ and online video remixer extraordinaire

We’re gonna sell out, so reserve your tickets now! Get all the info you need at: barelylive.eventbrite.com and on Facebook.

See you there! Come on out!

1 Week, 1 Million Views: ThreadBanger rides a hit

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST

Our biggest hit episode of the past two weeks was ThreadBanger’s roundup of the Top 10 Halloween Costumes, and the video’s life cycle shows the power of YouTube and iTunes editorial spotlights in seeding contagious video views, and how big media attention can follow.

ThreadBanger has been building audience organically for years: currently the network averages over 1.2 million episode views monthly, and on YouTube the network averages around 30,000 views a day. However, with big features on iTunes and YouTube in October, ThreadBanger amassed 1 million views in a single week.

The Top 10 episode, posted on October 13, amassed around 40,000 views in its first week from subscribers, search traffic (for keywords like “halloween costumes”) and viral sharing on the site. On October 24, the episode was chosen by YouTube’s editors for a full-day homepage editorial spotlight, along with the ThreadBanger channel page. The result was a two-day spike in traffic of over 330,000 views on the episode, and another 200,000 views to other episodes on the ThreadBanger channel.

After the spotlight ended, we saw continued increased traffic to ThreadBanger’s YouTube Channel, averaging over 60,000 views, and 1500 new subscribers to the YouTube channel.

An interesting point was where the views came from: fully 32% of the viewership came from YouTube’s mobile site and iPhone app, where homepage spotlight episodes are featured. This equalled over 200,000 views from mobile devices, signaling a major, growing source of viewership that’s not considered by many web video producers.

The following week also saw a major feature for ThreadBanger on iTunes, resulting in a 400% increase in weekly downloads and a 200% increase in subscribers for the ThreadBanger video podcast, according to Feedblitz.

On Nov 1st, CBS Sunday Morning News featured the episode in their “By the Numbers” roundup as the YouTube video of the week, a segment that also featured Michael Jackson’s “This is It” and CBS’s NCIS as the other big hits of media for the week.

Finally, according to Quantcast and Google Analytics, we saw a 20% week-over-week increase in traffic to ThreadBanger’s website after the features, and total October traffic and uniques increased over 10% from September, showing that increased superdistribution can also drive traffic to your home destination.

And now, the list…

Next New Networks’ Top 10 New Episodes, October 2009:

ThreadBanger: Twilight, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Top Ten Halloween Costumes 2009
Indy Mogul: Beyond the Trailer, ‘Paranormal Activity’ Movie Review
Barely Digital: Steve Porter Remixes COMMUNITY
Barely Digital: Key of Awesome Ep. 1: MetalliKittens!
Fast Lane Daily: DMC, Lexus LF-A, McLaren MP4-12C - 10/08/2009
Indy Mogul: Halloween Trick-or-Treat Rap Video: Original Short
Barely Digital: Girl Fight! Follow Me with Andrea Feczko, Ep 4
Barely Digital: Key of Awesome Ep. 2: Trick or Treat or Die!
Threadbanger: How To Make a Lady Gaga Costume
Ultra Kawaii: Big Fat Lazy Cats! Animal Idol Ep. 5

Thanks! Stay tuned for our next report, and we appreciate your comments and feedback as always.

Next New Networks one of SAI's most valuable startups

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:53:36 EDT

Today the Silicon Alley Insider released its list of The SAI 50+, expanding on their SAI 25 listings from last year to 60 companies.

We’re especially glad they saw the need to expand the list from 25 to 60 companies, as they obviously felt it was important to include some additional companies like Next New Networks, Etsy, The Huffington Post, Mint, and Metacafe.

Of us, they wrote:

“Next New Networks’ syndicated Webisode model is a tough one to pull off. The company must make cheap but compelling programming, then convince advertisers of the value of selling sponsorships on that content across multiple distribution points like YouTube, Blip.tv, Yahoo, and many other portals.

Still, the company appears to be making a lot of progress toward that goal, consistently growing its audience and advertiser base with high-rate product-placement packages.”

I’d say that’s a pretty fair assessment. No one said this was going to be easy, but we really appreciate that people are seeing our progress, and how hard this team’s been working to make it happen.

We’ve been having an amazing year: high-profile projects with brands like Warner Bros, American Express, and Unilever; six Webby Awards, more than any other online media company; a 2009 Adweek Buzz Award for our work with Lionsgate and Initiative; and a huge partner presence on YouTube and other platforms including industry-leading ad solutions like Freewheel. All of this is showing that we’re building a viable new kind of media business out of the creative primordial soup of online video, and next year, I’d love to see us closer to the top of that list.

ThreadBanger takes over YouTube!

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:56:30 EDT

ThreadBanger, our DIY style network, is currently being featured for the entire day on the YouTube front page for its Halloween how-to awesomeness. Congrats to our team!

How to scare up a quarter million views

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:06:00 EDT

Week of Oct 19 (get past reports) – Last week the indie horror film Paranormal Activity surprised the movie industry by becoming a buzzed topic online, and our show Beyond the Trailer was there to capture the hype. Our review of the movie was the #1 search result on YouTube for the film, surpassing the trailers, and did over a quarter of a million views there.

The success of the video continues the growth story for Beyond the Trailer, which we're spotlighting this week. A number of the elements have helped the show, created and hosted by Grace Randolph, to grow: relevancy (topical movie buzz and reviews), timeliness (same day as movies hit the box office), and interactivity, with highly active commenting (who doesn't like debating if movies are good or bad?). This plus great search optimization and editorial support from key partners (thanks!) has helped the show to grow to over a half million views in October 2009.

Beyond the Trailer's 6 Month Viewership growth (March to September): 294%
6 Month Subscriber Growth (March to September): 475%

Also from last week: Halloween programming's starting to be a big topic, with Indy Mogul's gory FX taking the #3 spot and Threadbanger's Halloween how-tos taking #8 and 10.

Next New Networks' Top 10 New Episodes, Week of Oct 11-Oct 17

Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer: 'Paranormal Activity' Movie Review
Fast Lane Daily – DMC could be back from the past, Lexus LF-A..
Indy Mogul - Backyard FX: Fake Corpse, Dead Body, Halloween
Barely Digital – Steve Porter Remixes COMMUNITY
Ultra Kawaii - Big Fat Lazy Cats! Animal Idol 005
Fast Lane Daily – Supasse V Sports Coupe
Fast Lane Daily – Porsche's 2010 911 Turbo beats an old record
ThreadBanger - Twilight, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Top 10 Halloween Costumes 2009
Barely Political - Obama Consults Playgirl Magazine
ThreadBanger - Mad Hatter Costume, TopHat, Halloween

Next New Networks' Top 10 Catalog Episodes, Week of Oct 11-Oct 17

Barely Political - Super Obama Girl
Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer: 'Paranormal Activity' Movie Review
Fast Lane Daily - DMC could be back from the past, Lexus LF-A
Barely Political - Don't Cry For Me, Alaska: The Real Sarah Palin
Indy Mogul - Backyard FX: Fake Corpse, Dead Body, Halloween
Indy Mogul - Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
Barely Digital – Steve Porter Remixes COMMUNITY
Barely Political - I Got a Crush on Obama
Ultra Kawaii - Big Fat Lazy Cats! Animal Idol 005
Fast Lane Daily – Supasse V Sports Coupe

Thanks! We'll be back next week with more insights from Next New Networks' audience-building work. As always, let us know what you'd like to see more (and less) of, by emailing us at audience@nextnewnetworks.com.

Fast Lane Daily - Consistency and Credibility Count for Views

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:12:41 EDT

Fast Lane Daily released their 700th episode this week marking yet another milestone for the widely successful daily automotive news show hosted by Derek D. Since the show began on January 30th, 2007, the series has lived by two basic principles: Consistency and Credibility. For Fast Lane Daily, these two simple concepts are a single axiom that defines the necessary ingredients for a successful car show with a loyal fan base and the respect of the automotive industry. Host, Derek D, adds to these values with his supply of fun and entertainment that makes the show stand out from its more 'traditional' counterparts.

The production team and talent behind Fast Lane Daily - JF Musial, Ian Jenkins, and Derek D - apply these values to every element of the show and towards their efforts to build their audience.

1. A Reliable Source with a Consistent Presence

As any news provider, Fast Lane Daily aims to be the #1 source of current and reliable information that is relevant to its audience. The series releases episodes Monday through Friday that are timely, accurate, and delivered in a consistent way that is reliable. They position the show to be a fixture in the daily routine of its viewers. The crew attends all the major automotive shows around the country including the NY International Auto Show, The LA Auto Show, NY Motor Expo, The Detroit Auto Show and more. Fast Lane Daily can't rely on viral hits or ephemeral pop-culture spoofs to garner their views. Their viewers want something different, as they would from any other news source. They want the latest and most reliable news and coverage coming from the industry's most important events.

2. Talent

Derek D, the face and personality of Fast Lane Daily, delivers each morning's car news with a comedic and causal sensibility. He's definitely not the traditional suit-and-tie car news reporter you might see elsewhere. Derek's antics provide the entertainment value of the show, so the details of the latest concept vehicle can also become punch-lines. As a host, Derek hits all the right notes for how a web series personality can help drive views. He's high-energy, genuine, and engages with the viewers by responding to comments in a segment called "The Commenter of the Week" every Friday. Derek also knows how a good jab at a commentor's ego, or playful insult can really get the comments booming.

3. MetaData with the 'Car Fanatic' in Mind

Fast Lane Daily knows the search habits of its viewers. The metadata surrounding their videos is specific and precise since car enthusiasts search by model number, not just by make. Being car-obsessed themselves, they also know that a beautiful shot of a new car model can be on par with that of a pin-up girl. Keeping this in mind, the posterframes for every episode are crisp, colorful, and clear, featuring the real stars of each episode: the cars.

4. Credibility with Fans, Peers and AutoMakers

The car enthusiasts that comprise the FLD audience are unique. Unlike many online video audiences, these fans prefer accuracy, not hyperbole, and relevancy instead of mass appeal. Fast Lane Daily is a widely successful web series, but first and foremost, it considers itself a news source for a community with high standards. The show has built up trust with its fans by valuing accuracy, disciplined fact-checking, and clear delivery of automotive news. Specifically, in the last few months when the automotive industry has been struggling, Fast Lane Daily continued to deliver its updates with a great deal of respect and support for the industry while many outlets found it easier to take shots at it.

The auto industry notices, too. Fast Lane Daily is a trusted outlet for many of the large automakers. Executive producer JF is no stranger to receive leaks and tips from automakers themselves about concept cars and future models. Every episode contains the 'Rumor Mill' segment to highlight this. For fans, this exclusive content is appreciated and incites a wealth of opinions. And, for the Automakers, this engagement and feedback from the show's loyal community offers a snapshot focus group. Fast Lane Daily offers insider content for its fans, and an honest source of feedback for carmakers with the comments on each episode.

Fast Lane Daily is a perfect example of how important it is for web series producers to know and be an integral part of the community that comprises their viewership. They listen to their audience to help dictate their strategies. They identify the basic concepts and principles that are important to their audience, their niche, and to the success of their content. But, most importantly, the producers behind Fast Lane Daily are passionate about what they create and share the same values as the people who tune in every single day.

Auto-Tune's not dead! Our September recap

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:07:09 EDT

Audience Report, Week of Oct 3 – Jay-Z may have called for the death of auto-tune this summer, but looking back, our #1 episode in September was a very special episode of Auto-Tune the News featuring T-Pain. Creators The Gregory Brothers have proved their staying power with eight awesome episodes that have amassed over 5 million views on Barely Political alone.

Speaking of staying tuned, Next New Networks’ YouTube subscribers grew over 14% in September alone to almost 640,000, the subject of this week’s chart, below. And our #1 episode last week was the debut of Barely Digital’s new Samsung-sponsored series “Follow Me,” where our intrepid star Andrea Feczko jumped out of a plane with her new digital camera.

Next New Networks Total YouTube Subscribers (All Channels)
April-September 2009

(Source: YouTube Insight)

Next New Networks’ Top 10 New Episodes, Week of Sept 27-Oct 3

Barely Digital - Follow Me, Ep 1: No, Don’t Jump!
Fast Lane Daily – McLaren Making Moves
Barely Digital - Amber’s Body (Jennifer’s Body Parody)
Indy Mogul – Fake Blood, Explosions, Harry Potter: Your FX
ThreadBanger – Tulle Tutu Tutorial
Fast Lane Daily – Honda Leaks CR-Z Again
Fast Lane Daily – Tata to Close Jag Factory
Fast Lane Daily – GM Wraps up Saturn, Ford Engine Rumors
Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer: Surrogates Movie Review
Barely Political - Obama Girl’s New Crush

Next New Networks’ Top 10 New Episodes, September 2009

Barely Political - Auto-Tune The News #8
Ultra Kawaii – Dog Days of Summer
Fast Lane Daily - BMW Vision Efficiency Dynamics
Barely Digital - Amber’s Body (Jennifer’s Body Parody)
Barely Digital - Who Broke Up the Rock Band Beatles?
Barely Political - Obama Girl’s New Crush?!
Fast Lane Daily - Lamborghini Reveals Reventon
Barely Politcal – LEAKED: Obama Attacked Gaga After Kanye!
Barely Digital - Chris Brown Community Service Workout Videos
Ultra Kawaii – Animal Idol, Episode 1: Kneading Kittens

Thanks — we hope you’re liking these audience reports. Please let us know what you’d like to see more (and less) of, and what interests you about the best practices of building audiences on the Internet.

Next week: look for Indy Mogul’s 3rd annual “Mogulween” episodes – zombies, zombies, and more zombies – to climb the charts, and for the 700th episode of Fast Lane Daily.

Channel Frederator: 200th Episode and an All-New Format

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:10:37 EDT

Our 200th episode is here! It's hard to believe we're closing in on 4 years of Channel Frederator. And to celebrate we're shaking things up. Episode 200 marks the debut of our one cartoon format, new host, and ongoing contest. Anyone who is featured on our weekly Tuesday show from here on out receives $50. At the end of the month, the animator with the most views in their debut week, wins $200.

But, why switch format?

With a one cartoon format, we can dote on each animator individually. Which means shining a bigger spotlight on them. And our viewers can do. For the first time, an audience can help reward an animator. Like a cartoon? Twitter it. Facebook it. At the end of the month, we'll tally it up and reward the animator with the most views in their debut week.

Nothing would please us more than to see an animators' work go viral. By switching to a shorter, one cartoon format and rewarding the animator for their work, we hope to make that happen much more often.

This week's cartoon is by Nick Bachman. It's called "The Owl and The Squirrel".
If you like it, you should tell a friend.

Find us on:
ChannelFrederator.com
Youtube.com/ChannelFrederator
Twitter.com/ChannelFred

Lunchtime is the new Primetime

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:53:20 EDT

Audience Report, Week of Sept 28 - Online video viewership is reaching staggering numbers, with ComScore reporting more than 25 billion monthly streams in August. But when is all this viewing happening? We decided to revisit our latest viewership data (thanks to our partners at Visible Measures), and it looks like for Next New Networks audiences, as Yahoo! and others have found, lunchtime really is the new primetime. Our biggest daily spike in viewership is in the six hour period between 12pm ET to 3pm PT, when most of North America is looking for a break in the day.

We’ve tailored our own schedules to take advantage of this pattern: we’ve long had a policy of releasing new episodes for most of our networks between 12 and 2pm ET.

And now let’s take a look at what popped the charts for us last week. With some of our shows gearing up for new seasons, topical episodes reigned, including episodes on Jennifer’s Body, Chris Brown’s community service, Beatles Rock Band, and a possible new crush for Obama Girl.

Next New Networks’ Top 10 New Episodes, Week of Sept 20-26

Barely Political - Obama Girl’s New Crush (feat. bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley!)
Barely Digital - Amber’s Body (Jennifer’s Body Parody)
Barely Digital - Chris Brown Community Service WorkOut
Barely Digital - Who Broke Up the Rock Band Beatles?
Fast Lane Daily - Renault F1 Stunner, Mansory Cyrus, Edo Competition Enzo XX Evo, Lamborghini Reventon
Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer - ‘Jennifer’s Body’ Movie Review
Fast Lane Daily - Porsche and Rolls-Royce May Go Electric, Australian Gangster Runs Amok, Pre-production Audi Spied
Barely Political - Auto-Tune the News #8 with T-Pain!
Fast Lane Daily - BMW Green Supercar, Mazda2 Comes Stateside, Fisker Gets Funding For NINA
Indy Mogul - Backyard FX: Neck Scar Effect

Our Next New Network: Hungry Nation

And big thanks for all the media coverage we received on our newly launched network, Hungry Nation, the first online network dedicated to real people, real food. Please check out the coverage from Hollywood Reporter, Mediaweek, NewTeeVee, TubeFilter, and Variety.

Stay tuned for a big month in October as we launch Indy Mogul’s 3rd annual “Mogulween,” Barely Digital’s new series, Follow Me, and much more, including the 200th episode of Channel Frederator and 700th episode of Fast Lane Daily. And thanks as always for your support.

From the set of “Change is Coming,” a new Channel...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:20:00 EDT

From the set of “Change is Coming,” a new Channel Frederator promo in the works by Alan.

Punch out Rush Limbaugh! Or watch some kittens. It's your choice.

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:51:59 EDT

Thanks for all the great feedback on last week's report. If you missed last week's end-of-summer report, where we announced hitting 600 million total views and 17 million monthly viewers, please check it out.

This week, the story was all about interactive online TV. Our two most popular episodes this week were sequels to two of our most popular experiments from the past year, where we asked viewers to get involved in an interactive storyline, and the response on both cases was overwhelming. Last year, "Animal Idol" on Ultra Kawaii racked up over 2 million views and over 30,000 comments across the web, and we've now turned it into a weekly series where we ask the viewers to vote for their favorite pet video each week. Earlier this year, "Chris Brown Punchout" generated over 15 million views in an interactive experience comprising dozens of hyperlinked YouTube videos, and this month's sequel, "Rush Limbaugh's Punchout," is on track to be another hit.

We've always seen a big correlation between viewer engagement and views, so this week's bonus list rounds up our Top 5 most-commented episodes of all time, which are also some of our most-viewed.

Next New Networks' Top 10 New Episodes, Week of Sept 12-18

Barely Political - Rush Limbaugh's Punchout
Ultra Kawaii - Animal Idol 1, Kneading Kitties | ** YouTube link
Barely Political - Obama Kisses Hillary AND MORE!
Fast Lane Daily - Lamborghini Reveals Reventon Roadster, Audi's A8 Gets Spied, IMPA Test Days | ** YouTube link
Barely Digital - Who Broke Up The Rockband Beatles?
Barely Political - LEAKED: Obama Attacked Gaga After Kanye!
Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer - '9' Movie Review
Fast Lane Daily - Bugatti 16C Galibier, MINI Roadster & Coupe, Geiger GTS Corvette ZR1, FLDetours Ferrari F430
Fast Lane Daily - Frankfurt Auto Show, Audi R8 Spyder, Mazda MX-5 Superlight, Brabus E V12, Marussia B1
Fast Lane Daily - 2011 McLaren MP4-12C, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Fisker Karma, My First Car

Next New Networks' Top 10 Evergreen Episodes, Week of Sept 12-18

Barely Political - Super Obama Girl!
Barely Political - Chris Brown Apology: Hit Me!
Barely Political - I Got a Crush on Obama
Indy Mogul - Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
VOD Cars - Episode 149: Veyron Crash
Barely Political - Girls! Politics! Wow! That's. Amazing.
Fast Lane Daily - 50 Cent Hennessey Venom Audi S4
Barely Digital - Batman Gets Pwned
Fast Lane Daily - Specter Werkes C6 Corvette GTR, Lotus Abarth, Dynolicious
Barely Political - Sarah Palin Quits! Auto-Tune the News #6

Next New Networks' Top 5 Most-Commented Episodes (All-Time)

Barely Political - I Got a Crush on Obama
Ultra Kawaii - Animal Idol | ** YouTube link
Barely Political - John McCain: No, You Can't
Indy Mogul - Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
Channel Frederator - Internet People! (The Meth Minute 39) | ** YouTube | MySpace

Recent Audience Milestones:

September 18, 2009: Two-year anniversary of Barely Political joining Next New Networks! Our first official video together, I Like a Boy, is linked here, and to date, we've had 50 episodes cross the 1-million-view mark.

Aug 2009: Passed 600 million all-time views (since January 2007)
July 2009: ThreadBanger passed 1.2mm monthly views; Indy Mogul, Fast Lane Daily, and Barely Digital passed 3.5 million monthly views.
June 2009: 17 million unique monthly viewers.

Thanks, as always, for helping make Next New Networks the most watched provider of TV for the internet. We couldn't do it without you.

Good News Friday--September 18, 2009

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:18:13 EDT

This week’s Good News Friday.

1. Both Andrea and Mark from TechKnow (our hit series of the summer, with over 5mm views in Season 1) have their own shows starting. Andrea’s “Follow Me” starts Thursday with a 4 part sponsorship from Samsung and Mark’s currently titled “Rock n LOL” is gearing up for a big launch next month.

2. We broke the 600 million views in August. Great write up in Tubefilter: http://news.tubefilter.tv/2009/09/15/next-new-networks-breaks-600-million-views/

3. We’re listed as one of the companies in consideration for the Silicon Alley Insider 25—The Most Valuable Companies in Digital. http://bit.ly/LPXY5

4. We won the 2009 AdWeek Buzz Award for the Real Sarah Palin Video. http://adweekbuzz.com/

5. Threadbanger hit 50k subscribers on YT

6. Animal Idol launched and then spotlighted/featured on YT. Now has over 80k views.

7. Barely Digital’s Rockband Beatles episode featured in Gaming on YT has seen 110k views

8. Barely Arcade’s new punch out game passed 500k views

9. Channel Frederator jumped on the Kanye bandwagon. In a Kanye-styled FredBot interrupted classic cartoons like Superman, Popeye, Felix The Cat and Betty Boop. Many Fredbot interruptions did well throughout YT

10. Channel Frederator also posted an extended interview with the directors of Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs, currently the #1 movie in the US

11. We launched cross-site login (eg. can now login to Threadbanger, go to IndyMogul and stay logged in!

12. 2 year anniversary of Barely Political joining NNN. The first video, I Like A Boy, came out Sept 18, 2007

13. Produced a video for America’s Greenest Campus starring Russell Simmons and the spot began airing on TV in Boston and DC next week.

SAI’s Chart of the Day: The Internet is for Content

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:09:00 EDT

SAI’s Chart of the Day: The Internet Is Finally, Primarily A Content Platform

Several of us here at Next New love the Alley Insider’s Chart of the Day features, which you can get as a newsletter or follow on Twitter.

Today’s is another great, simple one showing how content is what people are using the Internet for these days more than anything else (meaning that researchers are only a couple years behind insights figured out by a bunch of puppets).

According to the OPA’s Internet Activity Index, Internet users are spending 88% more time consuming content on the Internet each month in 2009 than they did in 2003 — around 7 hours a month. And they’re spending a lot less time using things like e-mail.

I wonder where the OPA is classifying the use of social sharing platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Are those communications, community, content? Seems like they have aspects of all of the above.

Channel Frederator: A Change is Gonna Come

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:32:57 EDT

Originally posted on the Channel Frederator blog.

The world’s original cartoon podcast is turning 4 years old in November, and to celebrate, we’re giving out cash.

You heard right.

Starting on October 6th, we’re switching to a one-cartoon format and giving every animator $50 to let us show their short. At the end of every month, the animator with the most online views in their debut week wins $200. As usual, the deal is non-exclusive. You still own the rights to your short, we just want to share it with the world. Oh, and did we mention it’ll be shown on the world’s original cartoon podcast network? (Seriously. Wikipedia it.)

But, wait there’s more!

In November, we’re launching a new series called “Cartoon Hangover”. A show dedicated to bringing you the craziest animations on the web. Animators: No longer do you have to censor your most insane (and R-rated) ideas. You now have a venue for your insanity! And that venue is “Cartoon Hangover”.

What are you waiting for? SUBMIT your animations today!

And while you're at it, peruse our main site and subscribe to our youtube channel and twitter feed!

We Killed Obama Girl! And Hit 600 Million.

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:37:47 EDT

In this week’s Audience Report from Next New Networks, we’re doing a wrap-up of our top 10 most-viewed episodes from the summer, as well as our top 10 current and evergreen episodes from the past week.

Even in the dog days of summer, Next New Networks' online TV programming racked up plenty of views, crossing 600 million all-time views in August. We posted our biggest biggest three-month period of viewership ever, totaling over 90 million views for the three month period, including our biggest months in 2009 for Fast Lane Daily, Indy Mogul, ThreadBanger, and Barely Political. Our crossover collaboration between Indy Mogul, Barely Political, and Fast Lane Daily made “Obama Girl Dies!” our biggest hit episode of the summer and a #1 hit video on YouTube, and our series of E3-related Barely Digital comedy videos and breakout new series “Auto-Tune the News” and “Tech Know” were a big part of this summer as well. In June, we passed over 17 million monthly unique viewers for the first time.

Our evergreen episodes keep building views, too, with "Super Obama Girl!" on track to become our most viewed episode of all time (14 million views and counting) and summer hits like Indy Mogul's "Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap" episode continuing to rack up hundreds of thousands of views a month.

Next New Networks' Top 10 Current Episodes, Week of Sept 4-11

Barely Political - Auto Tune the News #8 – With T-Pain!
Barely Political - Rush Limbaugh’s Punchout
Fast Lane Daily - Gymkhana 2.1, Electric Audi Teased, MINI Coupe Green Light
Ultra Kawaii - Dog Days of Summer
ThreadBanger - How to Make a Collage Necklace
Fast Lane Daily - BMW Vision, Targa Newfoundland, Stellen Nissan GT-R
Indy Mogul - Beyond the Trailer - 'Extract' Movie Review
ThreadBanger - How-to make a fanny pack, Threadbanger Projects
Fast Lane Daily - 2010 Mustang GT, Camaro Z28, Spyker D8, Goat Troubles
Fast Lane Daily - Novitec Rosso Ferrari 599 GTB, Heffner Murcielago

Next New Networks' Top 10 Evergreen Episodes, Week of Sept 4-11

Barely Political - SUPER OBAMA GIRL!
Barely Political - Chris Brown Apology: Hit Me!
Barely Political - I Got a Crush on Obama
Indy Mogul - Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
Fast Lane Daily - 50 Cent Hennessey Venom Audi S4
Barely Digital - Batman Gets Pwned
VOD Cars - Episode 149: Veyron Crash
Fast Lane Daily - Specter Werkes C6 Corvette GTR, Lotus Abarth, Dynolicious
Barely Political - Sarah Palin Quits! Auto-Tune the News #6
Barely Political - Stimulus Package

Special Summer Wrap-up:

Next New Networks' Top 10 Summer Episodes (June-August 2009)

Barely Political - Obama Girl DIES!!
Barely Political - Obama Kills Fly: Samurai Edition
Barely Digital - n00b at E3? Tech-Know #6!
Indy Mogul - Backyard FX - Harry Potter vs. Voldemort Rap
Barely Digital - Obama Girl plays Wii Tennis at E3
Barely Digital - Elf Porn Scandal Hits Gauntlet!
Barely Digital - Mark Gets Fired! Tech Know #8
Barely Digital - Italians Protest Super Mario at the E3 Expo
Barely Political - Smoking Lettuce: Auto-Tune the News #5
Barely Digital - Flirting with Obama Girl: Tech Know #12

Recent Audience Milestones:

Aug 2009: We passed 600 million views (all-time views since January 2007) continuing Next New Networks' run as the all-time most viewed original Internet television programmer on the web.

June 2009: Our first month with 17 million unique monthly viewers.

ThreadBanger passed 1.2 million monthly views.

Indy Mogul, Fast Lane Daily, and Barely Digital all passed 3.5 million monthly views.

Barely Political posted its 50th episode to date with over 1 million views.

Thanks, as always, for helping make Next New Networks the most watched provider of TV for the internet. We couldn't do it without you.

Good News Fridays - Sept 11, 2009 (aka GNF)

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:42:00 EDT

At Next New Networks we’re all super busy throughout the week buried deep into our individual roles. Sometimes buried so deep in fact that we don’t get the chance to stop and admire all of the A+ work accomplished throughout the organization. Weekly I do an all call for submissions for “Good News Fridays.” Sometimes when reading the list even I stop to say whew!

Recently Fred Seibert suggested we’re doing so much so often we ought to share it more broadly with the Next New Networks community. Below is the first public installment of GNF. Eat it up! And thanks for the continued interest in the continued innovation of TV for the Internet.

Amex Open Forum published the first episode (maybe 2 by now) of our new series, Small Business Rules, with Lindsay Campbell. Maybe you’ve seen the tweets or the posts about it around the Web…it has indeed been well received. First episode Gotham Dream Cars.
Channel Frederator visited with Chris Miller and Phil Lord to talk about their new film from Sony Pictures Animation, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” We’ll be airing both of their college animations and interviews with the directors tomorrow. Incidentally, CF will be the only place on the Web, or anywhere else for that matter, for anyone to see these films.
Officially passed the 600 million total views mark in August.
Launched the new home for Next New Networks on the Web. Check out http://www.nextnewnetworks.com
Launched our new player. This was a labor of love and tight budgets and took many people a great deal of work over a long period of time for a real triumph. We now have much more flexibility and easy access to catalog viewing.
Last week we officially became the first company to use FreeWheel on YouTube!
“The Real Sarah Palin” video we did for Lion’s Gate featuring Amber won the Adweek Buzz Award for “Best Viral Marketing” campaign
Barely Arcade’s “Rush Limbaugh Punch Out” had over 500k views in first 5 days

Small Business Rules – with Lindsay Campbell

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:29:20 EDT

We're happy this week to be debuting our first series dedicated to the business community: Small Business Rules, with Lindsay Campbell.

The first two episodes will be available ~~shortly~~ [Update: The first episode is available now! ] on the Open Forum, a new site from American Express dedicated to small business owners and managers, and every week, Lindsay and our team are going to meet and profile some of the most innovative small businesses in the U.S., and get them to share the rules that they've learned to live by in order to grow and succeed.

We're especially excited to be working with Lindsay Campbell, whose work we've long been a fan of, including the pioneering web series Wallstrip and Moblogic. As a producer and host on the show, she brings an experience reporting on businesses and producing in the field that few people in online TV have, and she's working with an all-star team of Next New Networks producers who have worked with us over the past few years to deliver one of our highest production quality series to date.

First up this week on the series: Thrillist, a daily newsletter for men serving nine cities and hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and Gotham Dream Cars, a company that lets people rent super-exotic luxury cars by the day.

We're excited to be launching the first web video series dedicated to small businesses, which is a subject near and dear to our hearts as entrepreneurs, and we're always excited and inspired to hear how other business owners and managers deal with common challenges we share. Serving underserved audiences is the core of what we set out to do at Next New Networks -- in that way, it's in keeping with past networks we've launched like ThreadBanger, Indy Mogul or Fast Lane Daily. And we're learning that the business stories that we love to read about really come to life in web video in a way we've never seen before, and that every business owner we've met so far has had valuable and original rules to share.

I hope you'll enjoy the series as much as we've enjoyed making it, and if you're an entrepreneur yourself, you'll get involved in the conversation with us and tell us about your small business rules. You can follow the series for updates at twitter.com/smallbrules.

Thanks, Annie!

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:13:00 EDT

Today was Annie’s last day at Next New Networks, and I’d say her internship went about as I expected it would, which was spectacularly well. Everyone loved having her around and I hope she’ll be back once that diploma thing’s taken care of. Thanks for all your hard work this summer, Annie!

Pictured here with a souvenir — 3D glasses — from our epic The Final Destination crossover campaign, which we couldn’t have produced without her.

And here’s a fun video of Annie hosting Fast Lane Daily, one of the many shows she helped on all summer, to mark her last day.

How do you talk to a legend?

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:57:56 EDT

That's the question I was wondering about in the days before the legendary Don Hewitt came by. I was so flummoxed that I completely forgot to take his picture for one of my "...in the house" blog posts I try to put up when visitors come by the office.

To back up a little bit... Steve Hewitt is one of Mr. Hewitt's children, a former executive at HBO, Showtime, and Hallmark, and a friendly acquaintance of mine (through buddy/lawyer Roy Langbord) for years. Once, over 20 years ago, he flatteringly thought I might be helpful to Don on a venture he was thinking about with (I think) Rupert Murdoch. Don called me at home one weekend and I'm sure I was a completely un-useful blabbering fool.

But, Don was nothing but inventive and thrilled about any new wrinkle in the media landscape (please, he recognized enough in the value of that newfangled TV to invent the network evening newscast and 60 Minutes) and when we announced our plans for Next New Networks Steve called. He was basically retired from media, but Don sure wasn't and they wanted to come by and talk about some new media ideas. As a bonus to me, it would also involve animation, so I was the perfect guy. Don and Steve came by in January 2007, right as we were officially launching. The whole office was aflutter --particularly Tim-- but everyone was respectful and kept on working (stealing a glance every now and again). I think I was too stupid to figure out a practical way to execute the idea, but, we had a lively conversation and I don't think I was as useless as in our first call decades ago. Most of the rest I'm blanked on. They left, I forgot to get their picture on my red couch, and that was that.

How do you talk to a legend? I sure don't know.

Death's Last Stop: the thrilling conclusion!

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:31:42 EDT

Yesterday we posted Part 3 of "Death's Last Stop," the BFX Test Film series that also included 10 episodes of crossovers across three of our most popular networks, Indy Mogul, Fast Lane Daily, and Barely Digital that's racked up over 2 million views in the past three weeks.

We have a couple more episodes to go -- watch The Reel Good Show and Beyond the Trailer on Thursday and Friday this week for a special epilogue to the series.

But everything gets wrapped up nicely (and hilariously) here. What happened to Obama Girl? Will Bobby live or die? Can Erik save his friends? Watch and find out.

More about the series here. Thanks so much to our sponsor, The Final Destination, in theaters this Friday!

The Guild, Dawson, Next New Networks Top YouTube, Week of Aug 22

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:43:45 EDT

With YouTube making up 68% of the online video watching audience according to ComScore, and a big chunk of our own viewership, we pay pretty close attention to what people are watching there.

Below are this week's Top 20 Most-Viewed videos on YouTube for the week of August 22, as listed on YouTube's charts. Since these change daily, we've grabbed a snapshot of the week's chart, as it's fascinating to see what people are watching.

Congratulations to our friends Felicia Day and The Guild. Not only was their "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video (above) the #1 video on YouTube this week, it also hit #1 in iTunes music videos and Amazon MP3s primarily through a smart outreach campaign on Twitter boosted by devoted fan bases for Felicia, The Guild, and Dr. Horrible's Jed Whedon, who collaborated on the video and song. As always, having a great thumbnail doesn't hurt, either.

Our own Obama Girl Dies! held the #3 spot after YouTube superstar Shane Dawson's insane Twilight video, and was the #1 Most Viewed video Wednesday and Thursday this week (trading off with Date My Avatar).

Here's the full list, as well as whether the video was sourced from an official YouTube monetization partner or user-generated content.

YouTube's Top-Viewed Videos, Week of Aug 22

The Guild - Do You Wanna Date My Avatar (Watch the Guild / Felicia Day)
TWILIGHT NEW MOON: BLOOD HUNGRY (Shane Dawson)
Obama Girl DIES!! (Barely Political / Next New Networks)
Patricia Heaton Fails at Math - ... (UGC)
LIFTING HOT CHICKS! (Shay Carl)
Gol de Sneijder min 90 / Real So... (UGC)
Barney Frank Confronts Woman At ... (UGC - CNN Video)
Letterman - Britney Spears Top Ten List (CBS)
Snoop Dogg On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (UGC)
800m Womens Final Berlin Winner (UGC)
Fantasy Goes Wrong! (The Station)
Fred Goes on a Date With Judy (Fred)
GamesRadar and PTOM unbox the PS3 Slim (GamesRadarUS - UGC)
NEW SONG 2009: Chris Brown (UGC)
Shauna Sand is Plastic Fantastic! (sxephil)
Hot Chick Zombie Takeover! (sxephil)
Frustrated Skateboarder Fail (failblog - UGC)
ADOPT A HOT CHICK with Randy and Janet (The Station)
Quick Back 2 School Hair and Outfit (DulceCandy87)
Esmée Denters - Showcase (EsmeeDenters)

The Death of Obama Girl?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:24:24 EDT

(Watch an extended cut on Barely Digital)

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here at the Next New Networks offices.

First, there was Derek D's birthday party, and the whole incident with the tainted Pudgie the Whale cake. Thanks to Erik Beck, only Derek, Bobby Miller, and Obama Girl were spared... or so they thought, until Derek D's terrible Ferrari accident.

Now, word comes of an even greater tragedy (sorry, Derek) down in the Next New Networks studios, as our latest Obama Girl music video shoot went horribly, horribly wrong.

We'll keep you posted on the fates of Derek and Obama Girl -- and I hope someone's keeping a close watch out for The Reel Good Show's Bobby Miller.

Grisly office deaths of some of our most beloved hosts aside, we're having a ton of fun doing this big summer crossover event across our three most-viewed networks, and we're really grateful to The Final Destination (in theaters August 28!) for letting us tell a big story. Fans are loving it, and we've still got a couple weeks to go.

Stay tuned to the story at IndyMogul.com/Death or on Indy Mogul's YouTube Channel, which has been taken over by The Final Destination for the month. Watch the whole series as a playlist here.

"Backyard FX" one of YouTube's Top 5 Most Popular Shows

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:56:57 EDT

When YouTube launched their new Shows section, everyone thought TV fare would rule the charts. But YouTube's recently opened up shows to a number of top internet TV providers, and audiences are voting us to the top with their views.

A quick glance at the "Popular" section yesterday (Friday August 7) showed internet TV shows ruling the top 5 slots, with our own Backyard FX in the mix, along with Smosh, CollegeHumor, The Onion, and YouTube favorite Fred.

Right now we're fighting it out for the spot with the heavily promoted Shark Week from Discovery (as seen above), but hey--that's only for a week. Backyard FX is back next week with a HUGE multi-network crossover you'll have to see to believe.

ITV FEST 4th Annual Independent Television Festival: July 31 - August 6

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:15:13 EDT

Next New Networks is proud to be a media sponsor of the 4th Annual Independent Television Festival to be held in Los Angeles. The ITVFest, is the nation's leading festival for independently produced, original television pilots and Web series. And as a company that values independent producers and their work we are happy to support the festival that is being held this week from July 31-August 6.

ITVFest continues to recognize and support web series and creators of digital content and this year their lineup includes a Digital Day on August 3rd with panels such as "Developing For The Web" and "Web TV or TV: Success Stories". It offers a great chance to hear some of our industry peers speak, such as Warren Chao of My Damn Channel, Jigar Thakarar of CBS Interactive and Dina Kaplan of Blip.tv . You can check out their full schedule of events and purchase tickets here.

Alongside the panels, pilot-makers will be screening 45 of their projects for TV, Web and Mobile, so if you're looking to see fresh and innovative content from upcoming and seasoned talent make sure to checkout the seven day festival and all their offerings.

Moon Man, Moon Girl

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:02:10 EDT

In 1981, our co-founder and creative director -- then MTV's first creative director -- famously re-aired the moon landing footage we're celebrating today with this spot:

Find more videos like this on Channel Frederator RAW

Of course, today, on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, one of our networks, Barely Digital, commemorated it with this.

I have no idea what this all means, but we're all Fred's kids, from Next New Networks to YouTube, so I blame him completely. Thanks, Fred, for planting the flag.

Press Release: Our New Structure

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:33:02 EDT

Yesterday we announced that Next New Networks split our programming group into two new departments within the company in order to better serve audiences and advertisers and create the next generation of our award-winning TV programming for the internet. A press release with more details is here. It's been a very busy time working through the process and getting everyone into their new roles -- but more to come as we roll out.

Questions for Trish Engleman?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:55:48 EDT

Trish Engleman manages advertising campaigns, and interfaces with NNN partners and media agencies.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

Pete Simmons introduced me to the idea of working for NNN, at that point I had no experience with online video, began as an intern, and quickly moved to the Ad Solutions team as a project manager

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

I only watch NNN videos :)

Do you own a television set?

Yes, I own two.

What's some of your current music rotation?

Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, Coldplay and Rascal Flats are on my workout playlist.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

What did you score on the SATs?

Thank you.

First Pitch from Obama Girl

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:30:44 EDT

Big thanks to the Brooklyn Cyclones who invited Amber Lee Ettinger to throw out the first pitch at their game last week, and to Bill Sobel for setting it up. Her toss and some of the other pre-game footage is below.

Our first Barely Political video ("I Got a Crush on Obama") came out two years ago last month and I'd like to think of the 200 million views our network has had since then, at least a few hundred came from President Obama.

Pics below of the Barely Political squad and some of the Next New Networks crew as well. Happy July 4th!

Questions for Todd Morningstar?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:01:01 EDT

Todd Morningstar writes features for the Next New Networks websites and users, maintains the web platform the powers the sites, and works on services within the flash player that our media is distributed in.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

I moved to NYC to have fun while trying to see if I could find a job, not expecting anything. Being a fresh college grad, I wandered in here purely for interview practice for a position I didn't want at all. I was hired that day for a completely different position that I still hold 2 years later, Software Engineer.

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

Not really, I suppose I could go with Brian Posehn's big YouTube hit, "Metal By Numbers." Either that or Upright Citizen's Brigade "Supercool" episode.

Do you own a television set?

Heck no. I don't collect vintage antiques.

What's some of your current music rotation?

iTunes last played: Sasha & Digweed, Dubstep.fm Podcast, Testament, Kyuss, and Mercyful Fate.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

What is a Miss California?

Thank you.

Questions for JF Musial?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:59:43 EDT

JF Musial produces Next New Networks' automotive team.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

Back in 2005, my good friend Alex Roy approached me and wanted to know if I was interested in helping himfulfilla lifelong dream: He wanted to break to coast to coast driving record from New York to L.A. which stood at 32 hours 7 minutes. Growing up to classic car movies like Vanishing Point and The Cannonball Run, I was well aware of the famous illegal cross country races of the '70s. No one had attempted to break the record since the last runs in 1983.

Alex, knowing he needed a team that varied in skill sets, asked me if I could plan and prepare the appropriate technology that would help him and co-driver David Maher break the 32 hour record by at least an hour. A year later, after multiple failed attempts, they did it. New York to Santa Monica in 31 hours 4 minutes.

The team celebrated but we all knew we had to stay quiet until the statute of limitations were up one year later. During that year of silence, Alex wrote a book on the experience while news outlets like the New York Times, Wired Magazine signed NDAs and prepared their articles. When the team went public with the accomplishment, Alex even made his way onto The Late Show with David Letterman.

I kept the secret of the record breaking run from friends and family for years. Once we went public, I had my name in a book, magazines, and blog entries across the web. There was no turning back at the point. I freaked out thinking I was never going to get a job within any industry being associated with something so illegal. I was totally wrong.

In the summer of 2006, Alex was introduced to Emil Rensing, a fellow car enthusiast, fan of the record breaking run, and Co-Founder of Next New Networks. Emil picked at Alex's brain to find out how exactly he and Maher broke the record. The end result: Alex introduced me as the "brains" of the operation.Emil immediately wanted me part of his newly formed automotive team at Next New Networks. I somehow associated myself with one of the most illegal road races in the history of the United States and landed myself a job at an internet start-up producing cool car videos.

Do you own a television set?

I do own a television set, but to be honest, I only watch the CNN International or BBC America. I hate the new age of television, especially within the United States. When a reality TV show became essential to every channel's line-up, I knew from that point forward the industry was screwed.

What's some of your current music rotation?

I honestly don't have a straight answer. I just listen by genre, based on my mood. Internet radio is my best friend.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

Do you have any way of getting rid of my Los Angeles parking tickets?

Thank you.

Questions for Jed Simmons?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:54:31 EDT

Jed Simmons runs the distribution efforts and business development for Next New Networks.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

In 2005, having left the Sundance Group (Robert Redford) where I had been COO, I was working on a series of really great traditional TV and digital projects. One project led to a desk with Fred Seibert at his NY based Frederator Studios. (Fred and I had worked together in rebuilding Hanna-Barbera when Ted Turner bought it in 1991; I was the COO). That project became Serious Eats and that desk became my window into what Fred and Emil Rensing were thinking about for video on the internet. That thinking became Next New Networks and the idea to launch 101 targeted television networks for the internet. As we developed the idea, I found my self in love with Next New Networks and committed from the start. I became a co-founder with Fred, Emil, Tim Shey and Herb Scannell. When it came time to take titles, of course, I became the COO. Off to raise money I went and to the offices of Dennis Miller at Spark....more later!

By the way we debated calling them podcasts, channels, or stations. And smartly we settled on networks.

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

I am a big ice hockey fan (I still play). It is hard to get enough hockey on traditional TV. The web has opened up so much for all sports fans - goals, games, rivalries, local, and debate. There is a fight between two of the NHL's big enforcers that would never be featured by the NHL but made its way to YouTube. Not only is it a great battle between two of the best but it also shows a behind the scene look into how fighting is such a normal part of the NHL game. Take a look. You got to watch it all the way through.

Do you own a television set?

Television set? Yes, quite a few. Even have one of those old ones in the kitchen that has a VHS built into the bottom. Why get rid of it!!!

What's some of your current music rotation?

My Pandora stations (especially my Springsteen one) and whatever my kids have on their iTouch's and surprisingly it is a blend of lots of hip hop, folk, and even some classic rock. I love the music that is out today and that we have incredible access to favorites from the 60-90s.

What question would you ask Miss California?

No questions - just advice - read the Financial Times daily it really is a great look at the world through balanced eyes. Get the printed version in pink or go to FT.com.

Bye!

Thank you.

Questions for Justin Johnson?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:38:19 EDT

Justin Johnson is in charge of promos and packaging at Next New Networks.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

My path to Next New Networks was paved with luck, chance, and lots of emails. I was originally referred to create promos for Channel Frederator by my buddy Jake Lodwick (founder of CollegeHumor). I didn't know much about what a "promo" was, and came into it perhaps a bit confused, but I knew how to make short silly videos and that seemed to do the trick.

After around a year of spotlighting the audience at CF, and having just moved to San Francisco from Florida, I was called upon by Fred, Tim, and Emil to grab breakfast out in Palo Alto. I was told "Hey! We're starting a new company!" and "We want you to move to New York City" in what seemed like mere moments after I had fully unpacked my things from Florida! I said I needed a couple more months in Cali, but come February of 2007 I was unpacking again, this time in the East Village.

All in all, an incredible cross-country adventure!

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

Currently, my girlfriend and I are obsessed with the "Gale Beggy" series on College Humor. I hope to see more from this weird character soon.

Do you own a television set?

We do -- we watch a handful of things on the Tivo, but mostly just stream TV and movies from Netflix's on demand service which is pretty awesome.

What's some of your current music rotation?

I just purchased the new Phoenix album. Diggin' it. I've also had a recent obsession with the pop sensation that is Lady GaGa. It's like aural crack. Awesome for jamming out to in the middle of the day when energy is running low. I'm not sure Ryan, who sits next to me and has to hear muddled Lady GaGa all day, would agree.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

I'd ask her if she wants to be a guest on Channel Frederator.

Thank you.

Next New Networks in The NY Times Magazine

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:30:23 EDT

Next New Networks gets a profile in NY Times Magazine from Times TV critic Virginia Heffernan. Here's an excerpt:

"In the end, inspiring the poignant fantasy of another life is the closest these videos come toward telling a bigger story. Like MTV in its heyday, Next New is proudly hit or miss. Viewers don't go to it for any one video; they tune in for a sensibility, a lifestyle. The scene at Next New is techy, of course, but it's also wholesome and nostalgic and low key and inventive and whimsical and frugal and enterprising.

"The kids in the Next New universe - like kids of hipster scenes immemorial - dress a certain way, talk a certain way, manifest a certain cosmology. You have to watch many videos to get the hang of it. But if it's escape you're looking for, and you can handle lots of ads for little content, and you're open to a brand-new summery fantasy of youth, the one presented on Next New Networks is pretty sweet."

There's a lot more in the full article--which also included the beautiful photo illustration by Kevin Van Aelst above--and we hope you'll check it out. Our thanks to Virginia for watching, and seeing something brand-new in what we do.

Our shiny new web platform is live!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:47:40 EDT

Late last night, the Next New Networks development team launched what we might as well call 2.0 of our web platform, even though we've only just begun.

Visit any of our Next New Networks websites (a short list is below) and you'll see some immediate improvements--a clean, well-thought out design, upgraded viewer accounts to include avatars and personal information and give us feedback when they "like" an episode, and our main focus: lots of ways to browse episodes on every page and to cross-promote other content from Next New Networks. And what's even better is on the back end: robust content management that's integrated with Tubemogul Pro, Visible Measures, and Freewheel, giving us one click publishing for all of our networks and industry-leading ad serving, tracking, and reporting.

This project's been in the works for a while, and was all about building a foundation that made it easier for viewers to find, view and share our programming to directly increase viewership on our websites. From here we'll focus on more features that will improve the community experience and allow us to better distribute and feature great content, both from Next New Networks and the communities our networks serve.

Special props to the team here that made all this happen--the migration of over 25 sites and 5,000 videos to our new home--in under three months, led by Felicia Willams on the design and features side and our new director of technology John Goulah (previously at Heavy) on the tech and infrastructure side. Jeremy Kutner, in his new role as web manager, PM'd all the many moving parts of the project, and the great Phoebe Espiritu of Simplifier Lab did the beautiful user experience design, which was then implemented and expanded in HTML and CSS by Nik Gunta, our web designer (cleanest CSS code ever! Zeldman would be proud), and Nite Fite animator and graphic artist Daisy Edwards, who came on board and banged out dozens of beautiful new promo graphics for the network sites' "slider" areas. And our programming and tech team, Todd Morningstar, Alex Milayevsky, Max Kovar, and new guy John McKinney really did beautiful work implementing the whole thing, smoothing out the bugs, and fleshing out the design concepts into sites that just work. Not to mention making sure the transition was smooth and painless -- no small feat with the amount of pages (countless) and traffic (millions) we have.

Lots more people contributed to the project, including a brain trust of everyone at Next New Networks who gave great ideas and feedback on our websites that Jeremy and Felicia compiled into the project spec. I'll let the team shine the light on more people that helped out.

Here's a short list of some of our sites to start:

We're sure there's lots of room for even more improvement to come, but in the meantime we're super-happy and excited about our new sites. Please play with them, create a profile, test things out, and let us know tips, suggestions, and feedback you have, as well as any bugs you find. Thanks to our unbelievable team for the very late nights spent developing and launching these, and thanks to everyone who's already started leaving comments and tweets with feedback. Stay tuned--there's lots more on the way, including a nice new version of this Next New Networks website and blog as well.

Indy Mogul, invading your cable boxes

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:25:28 EDT

Catch Indy Mogul host Erik Beck (our man of the many Webby and Streamy awards) as a special guest on several episodes of Science of the Movies, Thursdays at 10pm on Discovery's The Science Channel (in HD where available).

Erik's first appearance, in "Horror Movies - Effects that Scare," debuted Thursday night (you can catch it again Friday, June 19th, at 10pm), and judging from comments on the Indy Mogul blog, it's a hit. Above's a trailer for the episode, and stay tuned to Indy Mogul's Twitter feed for updates on more TV appearances.

Congrats, Erik - you looked great in HD.

Make a promo every day? Sure. No problem.

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:40:15 EDT

The mission was simple.

Create an original promo video every single day in the month of May. Why? Because "day" and "May" rhyme. Also, we've got a lot of talented folks sitting around the office, and our promos are a quick, fun way to get involved with the on-air portion of our productions.

THE TEAM

Matthias:
NNN editor by day, recent employee of the month, amazing chef

Jacob:
Intern, wear-er of slick cowboy shirts, omni-present guest star

Alan:
The grizzled veteran of the promos world, used to mix Nickelodeon slime, the epitome of punk rock video creation

Me:
Head of promos production, first creative hire at NNN, really big teeth

THE EXECUTION

Alan was our unstoppable force, when one of us was under the crunch, he would step forward and provide us with a great spot. Jacob was the spry youngster, ready to burst out of the office at any point with camera in hand, dancing shoes on feet. Matthias lurked in the corner steeping with creativity, bringing out unique silly spots.

All in all, the team made 35 new spots over the month. Many of them will start flowing into rotation across our networks in June. Here are some of our favorites.

BEST USE OF COLOR CORRECTION

BIGGEST BUDGET

BEST EDITING

BEST USE OF PAPER

BEST USE OF PUBLIC DOMAIN FOOTAGE

BEST DANCING

BEST DRAMA

SCARIEST PROMO

You can see even more over at our SpotCrunch account on YouTube.

We're preparing an even more exciting mission for summer ... expanding upon this concept to our entire audience, and asking them - the die hard fans, to take up the torch and help us fill another month with 10 to 15 second bits of branding sunshine.

Stay tuned!

Mr. Podell is ready for his close-up

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:37:46 EDT

We put out a lot of videos here at Next New Networks--a LOT of videos. But if you rarely get to see our CEO, Lance Podell, it's because he's out building our revenue and relationships and helping us constantly behind the scenes with how to better run every part of the company, from day to day issues to long term strategy.

This week Daisy Whitney and Andy Plesser of Beet.TV came by the office, and interviewed Lance about how the business of Next New Networks is doing. I thought he did great -- if only we knew someone who could get this guy a regular web show!

p.s. Daisy interviewed me, too, though I wasn't nearly as good so early in the morning.

Bijan Sabet: "Simple is better"

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:44:34 EDT

(reblogged from shey.net)

Bijan Sabet, one of our investors at Spark (as well as a board member and investor in companies like Tumblr, Twitter, and Bug Labs) has a great blog post today about keeping deals simple. It begins:

At this point I've done my share of deals of all sizes and shapes - equity, partnerships, licensing, JVs, etc.

There is one rule I like to follow that I've learned the hard way.

Beware of the complicated deal.

There are times that complicated deals can be rather seductive. For example, a big honking deal with a large company can be extremely helpful. But there is almost always a catch.

Bijan's reminder, "simple is better," is something I've also had to relearn again and again in life the hard way, in partnerships with co-founders, clients, and now, with the many producers Next New Networks works with. The best partnerships I've had (including the founder's agreements of Proteus and Next New Networks) have been the simple ones, based on trust and mutual admiration and a minimum of paperwork, with straightforward terms. And the complicated deals I've agreed to have invariably led to headaches -- it's not a question of if it's going to happen, only when.

We're currently in the midst of launching a new program at Next New Networks that drastically simplifies the partnerships we have with producers, and moves them towards having standard, openly disclosed terms and clear, consistent rules and expectations. We've been testing it here and there with a few people and the results have been incredibly postive, and I'm excited to be showing off some of the new things we have in development as a result at tomorrow's Digital Content Newfront.

It's all part of something I'll need to someday write more about which was a big learning of the last few years -- how much better it is to run your business based on what you hope and believe will happen rather than what you fear will happen, which is a cornerstone of keeping deals simple. It's also what makes some startups, like Tumblr, Boxee and Twitter, great, and I think it's no coincidence those are all other companies Bijan and Spark have invested in.

Newfront video: where would we be without our sponsors?

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:33:09 EDT

On Wednesday, we'll be featured in the Digital Content Newfront, hosted by Digitas' The Third Act, along with other leading online video and internet TV companies in the space.

Our friends at Digitas asked us to put together a short video to promote the event, which will bring together major brand marketers, content creators, distributors and measurement partners to move brand content and sponsorships in online video forward. Our team came together and shot a great little portrait of a disturbing alternate reality where Next New Networks doesn't have brand sponsorship to pay the bills. Thanks to our own Justin Johnson and Barely Political's Rusty Ward (who will be honored with a couple Webby Awards next week) for producing this, Mike Birch for a great turn as The Suit, and everyone on the Next New Networks team who took part.

Come celebrate $99 Music Videos and the Webbys with us June 7

Wed, 27 May 2009 18:55:10 EDT

As part of Internet Week NY, and a special pre-party on the eve of the Webby Awards, we're inviting all of you to our $99 Music Videos Season 1 Wrap Party:

Sunday, June 7, 7-10pm
M1:5 Lounge
52 Walker St.
(Between Broadway and Church)
New York, NY 10013
RSVP now for a VIP invite.

Special guests will include bands and directors from the series and the Next New Networks extended family, including our Webby winners, nominees, and honorees, and lots of our friends from the worlds of online video, technology and media. And the first 50 or so people who show up to claim them will get a cool limited Webby n-bot T-shirt (pictured below).

We had a really stellar first season of $99 Music Videos, and have an incredibly long list of people to thank, as this was our biggest project to date in terms of the sheer number of people we collaborated with.

Most especially, we'll be thanking:

Series creator Jack Ferry and his co-executive producer Melissa Schneider, who worked unbelievably long hours to recruit and coordinate all the musicians and directors involved,
Everyone at Verizon, for sponsoring the series and making it all possible,
Our partners at Federated Media, who put the campaign together and supported us throughout
Our friends at Moxie, who worked with us to create some truly amazing creative for Verizon,
and last but not least,
All the amazing musicians and directors who responded to the challenge and created some truly spectacular work.

If you missed any of the season, there's a season recap above with links to all of the videos. Hope you enjoy -- and hope to see you June 7.

Online Event Registration - Powered by www.eventbrite.com

I hope I know.

Wed, 20 May 2009 10:48:05 EDT

I'm speaking tonight in New York, and I'm trying hard to think of the right answers to the questions that'll be asked. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Producers Guild of America New Media Council East Presents the 2008-2009 Panel and Salon Series

***EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS ONLY EVENT***

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

BUILDING DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT BRANDS: HOW TO PROFIT IN THE MULTI-PLATFORM UNIVERSE

A Conversation With Fred Seibert, President & Executive Producer, Frederator Studios

LA in Short, with the LA Times' Brand X

Fri, 15 May 2009 14:58:21 EDT

The Los Angeles Times' brand new weekly section, Brand X, is running a new short films contest for the LA Film Festival this year, and Next New Networks is happy to be judging the entries along with Cool Hunting and legendary music tastemaker Nic Harcourt.

They're looking for films no longer than three minutes that speak to what it means to live in next-generation LA. That's the home of some of our favorite videobloggers, so we hope they'll all submit some entries and make a strong showing. Shorts will be showcased on the site and nine winning entries will be screened at the LA Film Festival in June. You can submit entries via their newly-launched Ning community site.

Thanks to our friends at the LA Times for getting us involved, and launching a great new program to showcase emerging filmmakers.

Many thanks to our awesome sponsors

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:04:39 EDT

We wouldn't be able to out our our great, Webby award winning programming without the generous support of our advertisers and sponsors, so thanks to the following companies who are currently doing deep integrations and run-of-schedule advertising across Next New Networks:

Frito-Lay's Only in a Woman's World.
Caress Skinwear Collection, and the TMI Countdown to Summer Style.
Verizon FiOS, the best way to experience $99 Music Videos.
Dice.com, our sponsor and partner for Best Job Ever.

Thanks so much to these great companies and everyone we're working with there, as well as our partners at Federated Media, for supporting the world's leading company making TV for the internet. We couldn't do it without you.

$99 Music Videos Supports NYC Music Festival

Wed, 06 May 2009 18:03:55 EDT

Today marks the beginning of The Deli's Best of NYC Festival. Since our own $99 Music Videos is an official media partner for the festival, they'll be there projecting music videos between sets. So if you're in NYC and are interested in meeting up with the $99 Music Videos creator and producers Jack and Melissa or The Deli's writers, they'll be hanging at The Bell House front bar from 7 pm on Friday May 8th and from 5:30 pm on Sunday May 10. Mark your calendars!

The Deli is a magazine and website exclusively focused on the NYC music scene, with a focus on emerging music. The festival features live performances from some of the top artists in The Deli's Best of NYC 2008 Poll. This years lineup includes indie standouts like Chairlift, Crystal Stilts, Takka Takka, and our own $99 Music Video band Lowry.

To watch music videos of from the artists performing during The Deli's Best of NYC Festival, head over to the$99 Music Videos blog, where they've been covering them in a weekly music video roundup. Here's a taste with the $99 Music Videos band Lowry:

No matter which night you decide to come, don't forget to get your tickets. See you there and come say hi!

Schedule for today's show at Southpaw below:
11.10 Lowry
10.30 Elizabeth + Catapult
9.40 The King Left
8.50 April Smith
8.10 KaiserCartel
7.30 Mia Riddle

Next New Networks wins big at the Webbys

Tue, 05 May 2009 07:00:20 EDT

The 13th Annual Webby Awards have been announced, and Next New Networks programming racked up SIX awards -- two juried awards and FOUR People's Voice Awards, more than any other company -- in the Online Film and Video category. This marks our second trip to the Webbys in the two years since we launched -- last year, we won a People's Voice Award for Fast Lane Daily.

Film and Video awards went to lots of other great companies like NBC.com, Current TV, Funny or Die, Discovery, The Onion, and NYTimes.com, but this year, no other media company -- big or small, "old" or "new" -- got as many Film and Video honors, nominations, and awards as Next New Networks, and I think it's not only because we work with incredibly talented people and put out great programming, but because we've worked hard to build the best, most loyal audiences on the web, who turned out to vote for us in big numbers.

In each category you can win a Webby (judges' choice) or a People's Voice (popular vote). Here were our wins.

VARIETY
People's Voice Award: The Best Short Films in the World
Producer and Host: Bobby Miller (Indy Mogul)
(see our previous post about Bobby's epic underdog campaign, which beat out Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the three biggest Internet culture shows on the web, Rocketboom, Boing Boing and Epic Fu)

HOW-TO AND DIY
Webby Award: Indy Mogul
People's Voice Award: Indy Mogul
Producer and Host: Erik Beck

VIDEO REMIXES/MASHUPS
Webby Award: Bill O'Reilly's Producer -- The Unseen Footage
People's Voice Award: Bill O'Reilly's Producer -- The Unseen Footage
Producers: Rusty Ward, Ben Relles, Tom Small (Barely Political)

BEST REALITY/VARIETY HOST
People's Voice Award: EPIC FU
* Epic Fu partnered with Next New Networks through May 2008

We were also nominated for Best Editing for Zaproot (Damien Somerset), and Official Honoree awards also went to ThreadBanger (How-To/DIY), Amber Lee Ettinger (Best Individual Performance), The Best Short Films in the World (Best Reality/Variety Host) and Fast Lane Daily (Sports).

The awards will be presented Monday June 8 at the 13th Annual Webby Awards in New York. Congratulations to our network teams, who really put their all into it this past year, and thanks to all of you who helped get out the vote.

Last day for Webby voting: Don't Let Jimmy Win!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:08:45 EDT

Bobby Miller, host of Indy Mogul's fan favorite series Best Short Films in the World, has been locked in a head to head battle with none other than Jimmy Fallon's Late Night videoblog for the Webby People's Voice Award for Best Variety Show in a very competitive category that includes other shows we love like Epic Fu and Boing Boing TV.

Amazingly, for the past two weeks, Bobby's been BEATING Jimmy by a couple of percentage points for the lead slot (it's hovered around 34%-32%), by getting out the vote in a hilarious campaign on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, among other places, called Don't Let Jimmy Win. This is especially amazing, considering Jimmy has over 800,000 Twitter followers and an NBC late night talk show on his side.

This Thursday, Jimmy Fallon felt compelled to go on G4's Attack of the Show to respond, and endorse Bobby to win the award. As Jimmy says, he deserves it. Check out the video below (the part about Bobby starts just at the two minute mark).

We love Jimmy (and his co-producer Gavin Purcell, formerly of AOTS) for being such class acts and nice guys for doing this, and I hope we can have Jimmy on Indy Mogul sometime to give him a special Best Guy in Showbiz award, especially if he helps us win.

That said: today is the last day of voting and we really need your vote. Please take the 5 minutes to register at pv.webbyawards.com and vote for The Best Short Films in the World in the Online Video section under Best Variety -- and while you're at it, you can vote for our other nominees, Indy Mogul, Barely Political, and Zaproot. Lots of other worthy shows like our friends at Epic Fu and Boing Boing also have multiple nominations, including in Bobby's category, and if you vote for them, you're voting against Jimmy, too.

It's what Jimmy would want you to do.

How to double your views, the Indy Mogul way

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:21:43 EDT

In the last quarter, Indy Mogul, our network dedicated to emerging filmmakers, has more than doubled its viewership from its previous average of just under 1.2 million views a month -- now averaging closer to 2.4 million.

The Indy Mogul team, including producer Erik Beck, director of programming Vanessa Pappas, and community manager Ryan Nugent, had been working since December on a number of things to try to optimize their programming and packaging, and it really seems to be paying off -- so I asked them for their tips on how they've been growing viewership on Indy Mogul. Here's what we came up with.

1. Give your audience what they want.

We looked at what episodes got the most viewership in 2008, and we saw a couple recurring themes. Zombie episodes did great, as well as anything gory. Spoofs of tentpole movies or big pop culture events did great (Indiana Jones / Steve Jobs, 700K), as did anything with a lightsaber (750K views to date).

So in 2009, the team has lived by a programming calendar, planning out 2-3 months in advance ands tying all of their shows to big movie tentpoles like Watchmen and Friday the 13th, theming to big holidays like the Valentine's Day episode of The Best Short Films in the World, and giving their audience plenty of gore with episodes like Axe in the Back and Severed Hands. This week, they've got "Wolverine: The Musical" and a corresponding how-to.

2. Feature as many viewer contributions as you can.

Indy Mogul has two whole shows dedicated to viewer submissions: Bobby Miller's awesome, Webby-nominated The Best Short Films in the World and our monthly feature, YourFX, rounding up all the amazing special effects our viewers are making, and they've been one of the biggest places views are growing in 2009. Not only does it give a ton of love to the viewers and only encourages more people to send videos in, but the sheer variety of clips featured in each episode allows the team to pick out the most popular keywords (for instance, YourFX always has some lightsaber videos) and the goriest, funniest screenshots to package the episodes and attract new viewers.

3. Packaging, packaging, packaging.

If you're not taking the time to pick the best thumbnails, the most compelling titles, and adding descriptions and tags that tie your videos to the topics people are searching for, you might as well not be publishing video on the web. More than half our viewership these days comes from search results, related videos, and embedded views on other sites, and people aren't going to click to play if you're not paying attention to your package. Indy Mogul lovingly crafts thumbnails that look great both large and small, and bends the laws of grammar in episode titles to optimize and stand out in search results; they sometimes even rename episodes multiple times within a week to take advantage of a new term people might be searching for. Example:

In addition, every Indy Mogul episode starts with a quick network open ("IN-DY-MO-GUL!") and we run great promos by Justin Johnson, like the new "I see movies everywhere" spots, to help explain the promises of the network to new viewers.

4. Linking and annotating.

We're making heavy use of YouTube's annotation and series playlist features, as well as our control of our own website to cross-link relevant episodes to each other. One of the advantages of having built up a large back catalog means you can link all those videos to your latest video or YouTube channel page, driving views to the latest content. On our own sites, we're running dynamic video promos to send audiences where we need them -- the latest Indy Mogul content, or other networks at Next New Networks. The more we go through the back catalog and improve their tagging, annotations, and links to other videos, the more we see views go up as a whole. A rising tide lifts all boats.

There's a lot more we do -- promoting the shows on places like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter (Bobby Miller in particular is a maniac on this one -- more on that in the next post), keeping an email newsletter going, optimizing our presence on partner sites -- but these were some of the things we've really seen a difference from in recent months. Hope this gives you some ideas, and whether you're a Next New producer or somewhere else doing online video, we'd love to hear your own tips and best practices, too. Many thanks to Ryan Nugent on the Indy Mogul team, who helped pull much of this together.

Featured Video: ThreadBanger on $99 Music Videos

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:47:53 EDT

In a cool cross-network collaboration for the recent Project Jenny, Project Jan $99 music video, director Kathleen Grace enlisted the ThreadBanger team to create the costumes for the dancers on which she projected Twitter, Facebook messages and junk mail (with a borrowed projector from the Next New Networks office).

Rob and Corinne posted a behind the scenes video last week with more details on the collaboration. Check it out below. And for more network cross-collaboration, check out the ThreadBanger prom special, featuring Indy Mogul's Erik Beck.

Happy Earth Day, N-bot!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:39:23 EDT

Michael Uman and Luis Blanco of Interspectacular, the original designers of the N-bot (our NNN icon), didn't realize what Justin Johnson could do with their creation.

Happy Earth Day.

now even better on boxee

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:40:45 EDT

As Avner mentions over on the Boxee Blog, we recently launched a new app using the Boxee API, giving their users better access to Next New Networks' latest programming. Boxee's a free app that you can download to any Mac (and then connect to your TV, if you like), or even install on your Apple TV, that makes finding, watching and sharing entertainment content that's on your computer or on the Internet a lot easier and fun. There's tons of content available, from Pandora to Netflix to CBS. Many others, including huge efforts like Adobe Media Player and Joost, have tried to build something like this, but Boxee really listens to its user base, rolls out features incredibly quickly, and executes incredibly well, and as such they've built a big fan base in a very short period of time.

Version 1 of the Next New Networks app is simple, allowing you to browse all of our latest episodes or narrow down by network, but we've got a lot more cool stuff designed and planned that will roll out in the coming months. This first version was built by Jeremy Kutner on our team within days of our coming up with the initial design, showing how easy it is to work with Boxee's new API and build cool apps within the interface.

Boxee shares some investors with us in Spark Capital, and we all gave a big cheer when Boxee moved in to our offices a couple months ago, as we're big fans of what they're doing. This was a fun first project together, and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more cool things to come of it.

Boxee's Avner Ronen and Gidon Couissin at the Next New Networks / Boxee offices.

99% perspiration.

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:31:14 EDT

Somehow it's always comforting to me when I realize that even the stunningly talented among us has to work so hard to come up with great work. So, when Frank Olinsky (designer of our limited edition poster series) offered to share his concept sketches for his very cool Threadbanger poster, I couldn't say no.

Frank isn't a fashionista in the least so he told us about his wanderings around New York's fashion district looking for an inspirational moment. He found it in the thread store, where he was shocked to find the thousands of choices available, all on plastic spools. He bought a bunch of stuff, not really knowing where he was going, and returned to his studio on pins and needles (ouch!) to assemble a puzzle.

The typography is completely invented by Frank needles and pins (cue The Ramones, or Jackie DeShannon, or The Searchers) and buttons. And without any insight from us, he serendipitiously stumbled upon producer Rob Czar's passion for indie rock. Perfect.

Sometimes when something is just wonderful, like this poster, it seems to me like it was always just, you know, there. Once again, here I am, proven wrong. Wow!

Kathleen Grace rocks $99 Music Videos

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:05:56 EDT

This week, $99 Music Videos debuted the second tour de force video by one of our favorite directors, Kathleen Grace, co-creator of The Burg and The All-for-Nots, and it's a doozy. Created with the band Project Jenny, Project Jan, the video features crazy choreography, real dancers, tons of spilt milk, and Twitter messages from lots of favorite people in the videoblogging community including Casey McKinnon, iJustine, Kathryn Jones, Melanie Notkin, Sarah Cooley, Felicia Day, Zadi Diaz, Andrew Baron and Rocketboom, and our own Michelle DeForest.

How the heck did Kathleen make this? Find out in the making-of episode.

This follows on the heels of Kathleen's equally epic video for Lowry, "Whiskey," also included here, after the jump. I don't ask you all for much, but it's absolutely unbelievable what Kathleen accomplished here with a day of shooting and $99 to spend. Please give us a hand spread the word -- if you love the videos, take a minute and put these on your Facebook, blog, link em on Twitter, or think about hyping them in your own videos or shows (if you've got a great idea for something, let us know). Let's get these great bands, and Kathleen's amazing work, the audience they deserve.

2009 Webby Nominees Announced!

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:56:00 EDT

We are very pleased to announce that Next New Networks has been nominated for four Webby Awards in the following categories:

Remixes/Mashups: Barely Political

Variety: 'Best Short Films in the World', Indy Mogul

How-To & DIY: Indy Mogul

Editing: 'Zaproot', Viropop

Each of the above nominations are also in the running for the People's Choice Awards in their respective categories, please take a minute to vote and support our networks! Voting ends April 30th!

Alongside the nominations four of our networks were also recognized as Official Honorees making the top 15% of the nearly 10 000 entries. They were:

Individual Performance: Amber Lee Ettinger, Barely Political

Reality / Variety Host: Bobby Miller, Indy Mogul

How-To and DIY: ThreadBanger

Sports: Fast Lane Daily

Big congratulations to the whole NNN team, each and every individual has contributed to make these nominations possible. Also, congratulations to all the nominees, looking at the list which includes, CBS, NBC, MTV, Onion Network, College Humor, Smashface Productions and more, we are without doubt in good company.

One of my heroes.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:00:55 EDT

I'll take any excuse to post about our friends Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, the masterminds behind Epic-FU. And then, Zadi throws me a softball!

Video: Watch ThreadBanger's CBS Evening News Profile!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:49:58 EDT

If you missed the live broadcast, we've got the video of ThreadBanger's great profile on CBS Evening News tonight right here. (alternate link: CBS Video)

Of course, this is missing Katie Couric's super-cool intro and outro of the story, which gave Rob and Corinne and all of us an extra thrill, but it's still pretty exciting. Congratulations to the ThreadBanger gang and to all of the DIY fashion fans out there who support the show -- a bunch of our viewers who have contributed videos over the past two years show up in the piece. Also, watch for a fun cameo by Amber Ettinger, AKA Obama Girl.

Our special thanks to Kelly Wallace and Amy Birnbaum of CBS News, who reported on and produced a great piece here at the office; it was a pleasure having them and talking about how internet media's changing all of what we do.

ThreadBanger on CBS Evening News tonight!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:15:36 EDT

[UPDATE: the video is live! Check it out.]

ThreadBanger, our DIY fashion network, which each week shows you how easy it is to create your own style, will be featured on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tonight - 6:30ET / 5:30 PT.

A couple of week's ago reporter Kelly Wallace and the CBS crew stopped by our headquarters and interviewed hosts, Rob Czar and Corinne Leigh, for a piece on how this trend of creating your own fashion is on the rise. It's something we've known for a while with popular sites like Etsy on the rise and our own site more than doubling in traffic even in the last month.

It seems that more and more people are interested not only in attesting their own personal style, but at the same time becoming eco-conscious as well as financially mindful. With the economic situation being what it is, we are more aware of where and how we spend our money. Instead of buying new clothes we can re-construct and recycle and in doing so be fashionable, help the environment and our wallets all at the same time.

And these days with video instructions online it's easier than ever. Our whole motto at ThreadBanger is style your way. Whether its learning how to sew a button or transforming plastic bags into a laptop case, ThreadBanger has you covered. Also we couldn't do it with out our community who each week suggest new ideas and submit their own projects that keep our show going.

So, tune in tonight and find out what all the buzz is about. Big thanks to CBS for the coverage and shout out to our community.

The Streamy Awards: a big boost for Internet TV

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:19:37 EDT

Joss Whedon and the Dr Horrible crew accept the Audience Choice Award. Photo by The Bui Bros.

Two years ago, if you told me we'd be attending a star-studded gala in Los Angeles dedicated to television on the web, and Next New Networks' shows would be nominated in categories alongside projects from people like Joss Whedon and Rosario Dawson, I'd have probably said, sure, one day we'll get there, but don't expect it so soon. This Saturday, at the first ever Streamy Awards, that's just what happened (albeit at a theater in Westwood, the small college town right next to Hollywood, which seemed fitting), showing how close to the mainstream online TV is getting.

On one hand, while an award show with presenters and scripted jokes and statuettes that narrows down the endless choices on the web down to a couple dozen categories and nominees might seem the antithesis of the buck the establishment attitude that got us into making our own TV, the Streamys addressed this issue head-on by leveling the playing field in a lot of ways, while giving a boost to the medium at the same time. After all, this is showbiz, and web video people turned out in force to show that they didn't necessarily mind a little dressing up, red carpets and awards. Nominations and awards went to a worthy mix of indie shows like The Guild and After Judgement, projects from leading startups like Vuguru, Revision 3, EQAL and Next New Networks, and big (if variably-funded) productions like Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible and NBC Universal's and Electric Farm's Gemini Division; the presenters were a mix of TV and movie stars like Lisa Kudrow and Ileana Douglas and web video favorites like Zadi Diaz and Dr Tiki and Lala, all introduced in a smooth baritone by YouTube star Tay Zonday.

Mary Rambin interviews Amber Ettinger on the utter madness of the Streamys red carpet.

If it might seem unfair, if not impossible, for a scrappy, brilliant show like You Suck at Photoshop to compete with a project by the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the nominated shows all had in common the fact that they were made only for the web, which is still a very hard thing to make money doing, and Joss Whedon, accepting his directing award, seemed to win over any doubters in the crowd with a pretty inspiring shout-out to all the web TV creators in the room (quote below via NewTeeVee):

It means a great deal to me that a bunch of people who are not already established, who have not had opportunities or connections, are coming up and making stuff that I adore, and that millions of people are watching. I have no idea where [the television industry and the Internet will] meet, but I know it begins here, and the people here are creating the bedrock of what's going to be not just the new media, but the media. And it's very exciting for me to be a part of that. You are my heroes.

Two of the big highlights for me, besides the big underdog wins of our own Erik Beck and Dan Meth, were seeing Steve and Zadi from Epic FU, one of the hardest working teams in online video, win their Best Hosted Series award and remind everyone of the videobloggers that helped start all of this, and Felicia Day, creator of The Guild, winning for best comedy actress (among a few other categories) and thanking all the directors and producers in Hollywood who rejected her:

"...without them beating me down into the ground and making me depressed, I never would have picked up a pen and written my own thing and did it and gone around [them]... I'm a square peg and I've been trying to fit into a round Hollywood hole for a very long time."

Those two moments got the biggest cheers of the night, and on an evening dedicated to new kinds of TV on the web, that felt about right. It felt more than anything else like a coming out party for TV on the web, and it was nice to see a mix of celebrities, web video veterans, and a whole lot of people I'd never met before all together more or less on the same level, making the whole event feel pretty open to everyone and a great sign of things to come.

Epic Fu wins Best Hosted Web Series.

I'm really impressed with what the organizers and IAWTV founding members, Tilzy.tv's Jamison Tilsner and Joshua Coen, and Tubefilter's Brady Brim-DeForest, Marc Hustvedt, and Drew P. Baldwin, pulled off (in partnership with NewTeeVee) and thanks to all of them for a great event. While there were some hitches along the way, the results spoke for themselves, and I know they're listening and committed to only making it better next year. Next New Networks' Justin Johnson, Erik Beck, and I were some of the inaugural members of the Academy, and we were really honored by the invitation and to be part of the voting process this year.

Some Streamy roundups elsewhere on the web:

Thoughts on the First Streamys (Kent Nichols)
The Streamy Awards Winners Celebrated the Arrival of Open Entertainment (Tilzy.tv)
Joss Whedon, Felicia Day and a Pile of Streamys (NewTeeVee)
The Streamy Awards: A Night Full of Winners (Tubefilter)

The revolution will not be televised.

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:31:28 EDT

There are a couple of explosive articles (to me, at least) I've read lately that'll be of great interest to Next New Networks followers.

Clay Shirkey blogs about "Thinking the Unthinkable." While his brilliant thesis is prompted by the 2009 meltdown of newspapers across the world, it'll be no surprise to new media followers. There are too many great quotes, but this one in particular stands out:

"That is what real revolutions are like. The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place. The importance of any given experiment isn't apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread. Even the revolutionaries can't predict what will happen."

And, over in the Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Holmes writes about some of the various studies that are coming out about internet video and television habits."The Internet Video Audience is Older Than You Think." Take that, young 'uns.

(Thanks to Fred Wilson, who tumbled me to Mr. Shirkey's piece.)

Digital, smidgidal. The Next New Networks' Poster Series #3 & #4

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:13:13 EDT

Tabletop photography by Janette Beckman

Digital, smidgidal.

When we gave the assignment of a year's worth of Next New Networks posters to designer Frank Olinsky we asked him to tell our stories. The stories about the people who love our networks, and the people who make them. Sure, we use all the modern toys; we use digital cameras, computer editing, we distribute through the internet. But, our tools just make things easier, they don't make them better. The people do.

Frank watched Threadbanger and Fast Lane Daily a lot. He's not particularly a fashion maven or a car geek. But, like everyone else in the world he's touched by them every day and he tried to look for the hand crafting that goes into the clothes, the cars, and of course, the networks. He spent a day in the fashion district of New York, observing and sifting. When he came upon a thread store --a thread store-- and put it together with Rob's and Corinne's love of indie bands he had his solution. And, after pouring through the automotive section of the New York TImes, he realized the materials for the FLD were right in his hand. Almost everyone who's ever bought a car (before the 21st century anyhow) started in the local newspaper.

So the next time you're watching any television or video on the internet, while it might seem obvious, there's actual humans behind all the digital shenanigans. Hopefully, our posters will remind of them too.

Mary Rambin on the red carpet

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:24:38 EDT

Our own Mary Rambin from TMI Weekly was invited to cover the Streamys with awards sponsor Kodak, and she didn't disappoint, pumping out interview after fun interview with some of our favorite people in web video. On the red carpet, Mary metAmber Ettinger (aka Obama Girl) for the first time, though I'm not sure how is this possible, as they're both in our studios pretty often, and I loved her telling Neil Patrick Harris that she's a real supervillain (for the record, she's not). Head over to Mary's Vimeo page to see more interviews including Alex Albrecht, iJustine, Felicia Day, and Joss Whedon, who shares (for the first time?) why he can't Twitter.

Next New Networks Rocked the Streamy Awards

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:01:37 EDT

Indy Mogul's Erik Beck and Next New Networks' Vanessa Pappas with Erik's Streamy Award for Best Visual Effects in a Web Series.

Over the weekend, several Next New Networks producers were awarded statues at the first ever Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards, like the Oscars or the Emmys, is a celebration of art and innovation awarded by an Academy of professionals and innovators in the space. Focusing on the web as a launch pad, The Streamys awarded the talent behind independent and professionally-produced video series with silver statues in a variety of technical and creative categories.

The entire team here at Next New Networks was honored for our shows and producers to be nominated in a such a variety of difficult categories. We were up against several of the web's first break out series and some our favorite shows including Tiki Bar TV, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and Home Star Runner. It was quite humbling to be nominated in the same category as these truly talented producers, writers, and creators. So let's give a big round of virtual applause to our winners!

Best Visual Effects
Indy Mogul: Backyard FX- Erik Beck (also nominated for Best Editing)

Best Animation in a Web Series
Channel Frederator: The Meth Minute 39 - Dan Meth

Best Hosted Web Series*
EPIC FU - Smashface Productions

Here's the full list of winners.

Congratulations to winners, nominees, and organizers for putting together such a successful show. If you're wondering what a Streamy looks like, here's a picture of Dan Meth and his award (via the Bui Brothers):

*We didn't produce Epic Fu for all of 2008 but were there in spirit! Congratulations as well to our partners from Veracifier -- TPM TV, nominated for Best News and Politics Series, and Alive in Baghdad, who won the same category.

SXSW Decompression

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:13:02 EDT

All last week my friends, families and co-workers were asking me "how was SXSW?" In these situations, I never really know how to answer other then a polite, "It was really amazing to get to catch up with folks who I haven't seen in awhile" or "I saw some really interesting panels." The truth is that festivals like these are such an overwhelming experience that it's near impossible to boil down into a few friendly sentences.

In an attempt to communicate what I learned from this year's south-by, I thought it best to pinpoint the key themes and buzz words that I heard over and over at the conference. This is what I've got so far:

1) Decide on an idea and go for it.
Talking about an idea will not make it real and if you don't make it happen some one else will. This talking point came up in several marketing and social networking panels, including garyvee's discussion on video blogging.

2) Important of branding
This one sounds obvious but is far deeper than any one person may imagine. The overall message is you're a brand, the company you work for is a brand, the product or service the company provides is a brand, and the company that supports or sponsors your company is... you guessed it, a brand.

3) Democratizing Content Will Weed Out the Weak
With media technologies merging, there's a lot of chatter about whether or not TV will reign supreme, especially when studio-owned and independently-produced programming are being consumed on the same television via the same set top box.

Since a lot of the real discussions at SXSW happen in a the hallways, here are some of the buzz topics I overheard: ATT = major fail, twitter, twitter, twitter, foursquare, and Zappos is an inspiration.

If you still don't feel caught up on this year's SXSW, check out these equally notable recaps: Laughing Squid, Julia Roy, Felicia Day, Insideria, and Zadi Diaz.

Who's Hacking Hollywood

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:00:30 EST

Next New Networks is proud to introduce yet another computer-themed series on WePCtv, our collaboration with Federated Media and sponsors ASUS and Intel, entitled "Hacking Hollywood." Created and produced by Smashface Productions, the creators of EPIC FU, Hacking Hollywood is an interview-based comedy series that looks at technology through a creative lens.

Each week on Hacking Hollywood, online video's top sci-fi and comedy creators dig into how the futuristic computer technologies seen on TV and in movies translate to the real world. Featuring the creators of Tiki Bar TV, Artemis Eternal, Galacticast, Invisible Engine, and Epic Fu, the series combines commentary from the popular voices and faces from online TV to crack the logic behind Hollywood's projection of what the future of technology will look like, and spotlights the conversation our sponsors ASUS and Intel have fostered about the future of personal computing happening over at WEPC.com.

The first episode examines the computers aboard the Starship Enterprise, and it's pretty darn funny. We're especially happy to be working with Steve and Zadi on this project, and to have some of our favorite creators in online video along for the ride.

Eden Soto, the man with the golden mouse

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:02:22 EST

In every generation, there comes a true artist. A Da Vinci, a Donatello, a Michael Bay ... an individual who makes a lasting mark upon his particular craft, sending ripples of unstoppable talent skittering across the tapestry of the world.

While he may not have painted his Mona Lisa quite yet, in the world of internet motion graphics, there's none so delightful as Eden Soto.

You may have caught his work in the packaging for the fresh new $99 Music Videos, or perhaps had retina tickled by the Indy Mogul network intro, or felt a smile traipse across your face in the opening moments of Ultra Kawaii. All those little moments have sped across the vast 1s and 0s of the net from the wiggling cursor of Eden to millions of viewers across the web.

It's been such a joy working with him thusfar, we just had to give him special mention. In fact, we can't even lay claim to discovering this talent - he's also worked on various intros for our pals over at Revision3, proving that there's no such thing as too much of a good thing.

Eden, the N-Bot salutes you!

Oscar Madness at Next New Networks

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:53:36 EST

Ready for the Oscars? You should be by the time you're done here.

Indy Mogul's Beyond the Trailer host and producer Grace Randolph wraps up their viewer-choice Oscars with this special episode featuring a cavalcade of Next New Networks producers and stars from ThreadBanger, Indy Mogul, Barely Political, Barely Digital and Fast Lane Daily. One lucky viewer gets a new Blu-Ray player.

Ultra Kawaii's 78th Annual Cute Pet Awards honors the funniest and cutest pet video moments of 2008. (AWESOME job Josh Leo and Ben Ross)

And ThreadBanger comes in with a whole Oscar Week of episodes:

This last one has nothing to do with the Oscars, but I think we all enjoyed seeing Lindsey Chen's Oscar-worthy turn as Danica Patrick on today's Fast Lane Daily. Lindsey's been behind the scenes on Fast Lane Daily, ThreadBanger, and other shows for over two years, and it was fun for everyone for her to host today. She's leaving soon to travel the world, and we're going to miss her.

OK, hope I didn't miss anything. Have fun, and enjoy the show.

a big day, times two

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:54:58 EST

We're all really excited about the response so far to $99 Music Videos -- there's been a great amount of buzz and press coverage in just the first day, from places like Wired, Ad Age, The Wall Street Journal, and CMJ, which we'll try to round up here as soon as the smoke clears.

Today all of us got together in the office to celebrate the launch as well as another big milestone -- the two-year anniversary of ThreadBanger. That's right, we launched ThreadBanger two years ago. We couldn't resist the chance to take a picture of our very first Next New Networks producers to get a show, ThreadBanger's Corinne and Rob, with our latest, $99's Jack and Melissa. It's hard to believe we've been launching great networks for over two years now.

Threadbanger turns 2 years old

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:05:24 EST

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of the ThreadBanger network. The first network to technically launch under the NNN name.

It was almost 3 years ago that Fred Seibert had Corinne and I fly out to NY and meet with him to discuss this crazy idea he had to make television for the internet.

At this time Channel Frederator and VOD Cars were already up and making a splash on the web which led Fred and some others to think they could take over the internet space with great interactive programming developed for niche markets.

There wasn't a name yet, or any real plans of development...just a glimmer in his eye.

6 months later after we didn't hear anything back from anyone, we figured it was just that....a glimmer.

The second call came to meet again in NY a few months later, and this time he asked us to bring in some ideas to pitch to both Tim Shey and himself.

Being as broke as we were...Corinne and I put together a list of what had to be 100 show ideas that we brought into the meeting. One we were particularly fond of was called "The Samurais Cookbook" about a Samurai Chef who gave weekly culinary tips. However before he was ever actually finished creating the meal Ninjas would swarm the kitchen and a kung fu samurai battle would ensue.

They didn't like it.

But seeing the DIY outfits both Corinne and I were wearing, Fred and Tim asked how we felt about Fashion, and that it was one of the first spaces they wanted to start experimenting with.

With barely enough money to get back to FL, Corinne and I threw together our first pilot for NNN, cleverly titled "DIY Fashion"

You can figure out what happened from here....

Production started shortly afterwards, and we're proud to say we haven't missed a weekly episode yet. With over 200 videos and a million plus followers, Threadbanger has re-defined the DIY Fashion space on the Web and has influenced hundreds if not thousands to start making their own clothing and redefining their style.

Hell, we even have our own sewing machine! Who would have thunk?

Its definitely been an adventure here at NNN over the past couple years and we're still dedicated and looking forward to making this company the biggest thing to hit the ol' world wide webs.

Much love to new networks like $99 Dollar Music Video , TMI , and all the Next New Networks to come.

(Hmmm...so that's how they came up with that name)

Rob Czar

Our latest network: $99 Dollar Music Videos

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:01:30 EST

Today, we're excited to announce our latest entertainment network, $99 Music Videos. Created and Produced by Webby-Honored filmmaker Jack Ferry, $99 Music Videos connects up-and-coming bands with talented filmmakers to create a music video masterpiece for $99 or less.

Every week we'll publish two new episodes: a brand new music video, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the video was made. Check out the first music video, directed by Jack Ferry, for Brooklyn band La Strada's new track, "The Sun Song":

Check out how this video was made!

We're also excited to announce a partnership with Verizon, making it the first time we've kicked off a network with an exclusive launch sponsor. This is a huge validation of the work we've been doing and we're really excited to have them on board. There are a number of ways we've worked their sponsorship into the network, including "Quick Tip" segments giving additional insights into how the videos were made quickly and effectively, and companion media and integrated sponsor graphics on our website and distribution points like the $99 Music Videos YouTube channel.

We hope you'll check out the series and let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more from $99 Music Videos every Tuesday and Thursday. Please feel free to follow the network on your favorite places like iTunes, YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter, and if you're interested in making your own $99 music video, here's a video from Jack telling you how. Hopefully, we'll be showing one of your videos on $99 Music Videos sometime soon.

Press Release: Next New Networks, Verizon Launch $99 Music Videos

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:49 EST

Here's the full text of our press release announcing our partnership with Verizon, issued jointly this morning. (Download as PDF)

Next New Networks, Verizon Launch $99 Music Videos, the Web's First Original Music Videos Network

Online Performances to Feature Emerging Musical Artists and Independent Filmmakers

New York - February 19, 2009 -- Next New Networks and Verizon FiOS today announced the launch of a new online entertainment network, $99 Music Videos.

Verizon, the provider of the nation's fastest broadband speeds through its FiOS Internet service, is joining forces with Next New Networks, the leading online television company, to showcase emerging bands and musical artists paired with talented filmmakers.

Today's launch kicks off with an original video for La Strada, and upcoming guest talent includes Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard, Via Audio, Plushgun, The Depreciation Guild, Project Jenny, Project Jan, Lowry, Savoir Adore, and Frances. New videos will premiere every Thursday on the network's website at 99dollarmusicvideos.com and distribution channels including YouTube, iTunes, and more.

$99 Music Videos gives musicians and filmmakers the opportunity to produce and broadcast high-quality original music videos for no more than $99. In addition to connecting great independent talent with new waves of potential fans, $99 Music Videos also appeals to a new generation of filmmakers by demonstrating innovative techniques to produce innovative music videos using limited resources.

The network was developed by pioneers in the music, television and online entertainment space including Fred Seibert, MTV's original Creative Director, Felicia Williams, former Entertainment Content Manager at YouTube and Next New Networks' Director of Creative Development, and the Series Creator and Executive Producer, Webby Award honored filmmaker Jack Ferry.

"$99 Music Videos stands for everything that's exciting about web entertainment today in bringing together rising star bands, creative filmmaking, and a low-cost vibe to create original, fresh content," said Fred Seibert, creative director and co-founder of Next New Networks. "I was there at the start of MTV and this has the same feeling all over again as we launch a popular new destination for music videos. Music videos are meant to be fun, fresh and authentic, and the $99 Music Videos format gives deserving artists the freedom to create while reaching out to new fans."

Verizon has partnered with Next New Networks as the exclusive launch sponsor for the new network. Delivered on the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network, Verizon's FiOS Internet connection is the fastest available to U.S. consumers.

"$99 Music Videos network programs are a perfect match for FiOS Internet," said John Wimsatt, senior vice president, Verizon marketing. "Our advanced fiber-optic network delivers the fastest broadband speeds and ultimate online music video experience straight to FiOS Internet customers' homes. Verizon FiOS is all about letting people do more with their Internet connection, such as creating and enjoying high-quality video and making digital media part of their everyday lives."

The Verizon campaign messaging, "$99 music videos are best experienced with Verizon FiOS Internet," will boost viewer awareness around Verizon's fiber-optic Internet service. The campaign will also include branded vignettes during each "making of" segment that offer a unique angle on the $99 creation process - the power of speed in the face of limited time.

In addition the campaign will include integrated branded sponsor elements within episodes detailing the making of each music video, as well as companion media placements and integrated sponsor graphics on the network website and distribution points such as the network's YouTube channel. Next New Networks and Verizon will also work together in creative ways to promote the series through channels like Verizon's Facebook fan page and communities on platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, MySpace and Flickr.

$99 Music Videos will feature different combinations of musicians and directors each week. Directors include Jack Ferry, Dan Meth, Ana Veselic, Kathleen Grace and Matthew Semel. The network will initially consist of two shows: a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video, and the finished pieces themselves. Viewers will rate the videos as well as have the chance to submit their own $99 music videos, making the network a destination for bands and filmmakers to connect with each other and the independent music and film communities.

More information and links for the musicians and directors involved can be found at the network's website: 99dollarmusicvideos.com.

About Next New Networks
Next New Networks is TV for the Internet. As the leading independent producer of online television networks Next New Networks creates, packages, brands, markets and syndicates some of the Web's most popular regularly scheduled and episodic programming. Since its inception in March 2007, the company has launched sixteen networks, and its programming has been viewed more than 400 million times.

Hit programming from Next New Networks includes Channel Frederator (home of the popular series "Nite Fite"), Barely Political (the creators of Obama Girl), TMI Weekly (co-hosted by web celeb Julia Allison), daily auto news network Fast Lane Daily, DIY filmmaker network Indy Mogul, lifestyle network ThreadBanger, tech comedy network Barely Digital and your one-stop showcase of the cutest pets across the globe, Ultra Kawaii. The company, headquartered in New York, is privately owned, with investors including Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive. For more information, please visit www.nextnewnetworks.com.

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 80 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 224,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $97 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

####

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Contacts:
LaunchSquad
Melissa Klein
415-625-8555
nnn@launchsquad.com

Verizon
Cliff Lee
518-396-1095
clifford.p.lee@verizon.com

Workplace hazards

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:08:01 EST

I'm not sure everyone realizes how much the employees of Next New Networks risk their lives each day to bring the world the very best internet television programming. This video, shot today by our own Lee Rubenstein, shows some of the perils of working in Manhattan, where cranes loom omniously overhead.

Rob's Pink Birthday Ape

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:46:30 EST

We have a strong tradition here at Next New of celebrating co-worker's birthdays with splendid cakes, rousing song, and bright beaming smiles. Perhaps the occasional bouquet, or gently packed bundle of chocolates, but the gift recieved by ThreadBanger's own Rob Czar was most certainly our first ... well ... uh ... just watch the video ...

Yes, this is one birthday that I'm certain none of us will be able to cleanse our minds of for a good, long time.

Thanks and photos from last night

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:53:07 EST

Thanks to all the people who came out for last night's Barely Digital / Next New Networks New Network Launch Party and made it a great success. It's amazing what you can put together these days with a few well placed Twitter posts and a Facebook invite (and a little help and promotion from Social Media Week).

Rachel Sklar and Amber Lee Ettinger at Next New Networks' Barely Digital launch party last night. Photo by Nick McGlynn.

A couple of great photographers were out, and here are a few shots from the night. Check out the full sets from Nick McGlynn and Jeff Donenfeld on Random Night Out, and Nick's report on Guest of a Guest, for more.

Next New Networks' web platform manager Jeremy Kutner, left, and partner services manager Andres Palmiter, right, with Tumblr's David Karp.

Soraya Darabi, Rex Sorgatz, and The Antikris.

Next New Networks director of creative development Felicia Williams with Nate Westheimer.

Our host, Barely Digital founder Ben Relles with Barbarian Group's Rick Webb and Next New Networks' Michelle Deforest.

If you have any photos, videos or posts from the event, please let us know! And we're really grateful to everyone who came out. It was great to meet many of you in person for the first time.

Barely Digital Launch Party

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:56:34 EST

Making tech funny? Now that's a reason to party. We've partnered up with Social Media Week to celebrate the launch of Barely Digital.

Come by and join just about everyone from Next New Networks to celebrate the launch of Barely Digital, our latest comedy network brought to you by the genius Barely Political team. Dance party starts at 7pm at M1:5 Lounge (On Walker between Broadway and Church, one block south of Canal St.)

For those attending or following along at home, we've set up a hash tag for twitter and flickr - #nnnparty
Or you can follow the events on Twitter - @barelydigital @nextnewnetworks

Hope to see you there!

-Michelle
@mdfsmash

Jason Week! on Indy Mogul

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:42:57 EST

With Friday the 13th on the way, Indy Mogul fans have been seeing Jason Voorhees pop up all over their favorite shows, thanks to a promotion we like to call JASON WEEK. Jason's new movie FRIDAY THE 13TH hits theaters February 13th, and has taken out a big sponsorship across Next New Networks, including current episodes of Fast Lane Daily, Barely Political, Barely Digital, ZapRoot, and Indy Mogul, among others. As part of the sponsorship, Friday the 13th let us have fun with Jason in a special week of Indy Mogul programming.

First up, I, Erik Beck, showed viewers how to create an Axe in the Back effect in the episode above. We then put that gruesome effect to work in the Indy Mogul Original Short, starring and guest written by Team Submarine.

After that Bobby Miller continued "Jason Week" with a little show we like to call the Best Short Films in the World! The video is embedded below and feature a hockey mask-wearing special guest.

And completing the Indy Mogul/Friday the 13th trifecta is Grace Randolph and Beyond the Trailer. If you're having a hard time remember how Jason got from Camp Crystal Lake, to New York, to hell, to space, and then back to hell (then back to Camp Crystal Lake) then you need to watch Grace's awesome run down of the Jason saga up to this point.

Big thank you to everyone who helped pull this awesome campaign off and congrats to the Next New Networks family for landing another sweet deal!

Next New Networks -- Huge in 08

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:32:22 EST

Somehow in all the work and news and shuffle of the past couple months, we neglected to blog a pretty big announcement we made rounding up our progress in 2008, which among other things included tripling our viewership over 2007's to 300 million views, cracking the YouTube monetization puzzle, and adding Fortune 500 sponsors including Cotton, Starburst, Unilever, Universal Pictures, Valvoline and Lions Gate Entertainment -- demonstrating serious revenue growth and advertiser interest in our new medium of TV for the internet.

Thankfully we have other ways of getting news out besides this blog, so the news was picked up and commented on by NewTeeVee, Contentinople, and ClickZ, among others.

Full text of the press release is below. And thanks to everyone who's watched and participated in our programming, all the advertisers who've supported us, and everyone who's critiqued us and challenged us to be better. We read every e-mail, every blog post, and every Twitter mention, and just ask that you stay tuned--with the things we have coming, 2009 is going to be a huge leap for us once again.

Next New Networks Tops 300 Million Views in 2008

Online TV Innovator Sets Audience Records; Triples Viewership in Its Second Year

NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 01/14/09 -- Next New Networks, the leading online television company, today announced that it achieved more than 300 million views of its online programming in 2008 and passed 400 million total since the company's inception, representing more than 200 percent growth over 2007.

The record audience caps a momentous year for Next New Networks, as the company launched exciting new networks including TMI Weekly with Julia Allison and her partners in NonSociety; popularized one of the year's most famous pop culture celebrities in Barely Political's Obama Girl; and worked with many leading brands and agencies on creative, successful advertising campaigns to support its online TV programming.

"2008 was a breakthrough year for Next New Networks. We established the company as the leader and innovator in the growing online television space, while achieving record viewership and attracting Fortune 500 advertisers and sponsors," said Lance Podell, CEO of Next New Networks. "In the coming year, online TV, with its growing, passionate and loyal audience, remains a clear bright spot in the market and an exciting, established alternative to broadcast and cable TV for engaging with consumers."

According to comScore Networks, online video viewership is surging, with U.S. audiences viewing 34 percent more online videos in November 2008 compared to 2007, and more than 77 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewing online video during the month. With 11 networks that have exceeded 1 million views per month, and close to 400,000 subscribers across all of its networks, Next New Networks is seeing the fruits of consumers' expanding appetites for online programming as more and more people are tuning into its shows for their online entertainment on a regular basis.

Programming highlights included:

The launch of new networks Nite Fite and TMI Weekly, and new show Beyond the Trailer (part of the Indy Mogul network)
Webby award winner Fast Lane Daily aired its 500th episode and surpassed 55 million views
ThreadBanger saw 57 percent growth in site traffic over 2007, and became the first network to have a product designed specifically for its viewers in Janome's limited edition ThreadBanger sewing machine
Barely Political reached over 100,000 YouTube subscribers and released over two dozen viral hits
Channel Frederator was named one of iTunes' 2008 Classics for Best Video Podcast
The sponsored series Nite Fite hit 5 million views
The Indy Mogul team was featured in Yahoo!'s 2008 People of the Web series, which highlights the most exciting content creators working online today.

"In addition to our stellar audience growth in 2008, we also cracked the code for advertising and monetizing our networks and audience by creating campaigns that really succeed in this medium," added Podell. "Today, we offer proven reach to advertisers, delivering millions of impressions of their brand messages and unique sponsorship opportunities that only work in online TV."

During the past year, a number of leading brand advertisers made debuts on Next New Networks programs. In 2008, Next New Networks ran successful ad campaigns with measurable reach for many major brands, including Cotton, Starburst, Unilever, Universal Pictures, Valvoline and Lions Gate Entertainment. The Lions Gate relationship, in promotion of the movie "W.," resulted in over 2 million YouTube views within the first 24 hours and more than 5 million views to date.

Next New Networks also continued to lead the industry in innovative distribution strategies, forging partnerships with the top and most relevant destinations on the Web to enable audiences to tune in when and how they want. In addition to entering into new online video portal partnerships with Yahoo! Video, Hulu, Break, Metacafe, Comcast and Voxant, the company maintained a featured presence on YouTube and is one of the top independent programmers on the site.

Beyond The Trailer's Oscar Mania!

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:16:36 EST

After the horrendous snubs of "The Dark Knight" and "Gran Torino", it's pretty clear The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences doesn't really care about the opinion of moviegoers.

But Indy Mogul's Beyond The Trailer does!

That's why BTT is having its own Oscar Vote. Head over to our website and vote for who YOU think deserves an Academy Award. If you think someone's been overlooked, we also have a write-in section for each of the six main categories we're covering: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.

And yes, we even have swag! One voter will be randomly selected to win a brand new blu-ray player!

To help you cast your vote, over the next few weeks BTT's Grace Randolph will be giving you a closer look at the nominees in each category. In fact the Best Picture profile just went up today:

And be sure to watch "Beyond The Trailer: The Audience Oscar Vote" on Sunday February 22nd for the results!

Announcing Barely Digital -- our latest network.

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:09:50 EST

Today marked the, um, soft launch (apparently "beta" is dead) of Barely Digital, a new spinoff from the Barely Political team.

Here's a bit from our press release (the full text of which is at the bottom of the post):

From the creative team behind Barely Political and the Obama Girl phenomenon, Barely Digital will showcase the same brand of satire, brought against the ripe target of the technology sector. Whether lampooning overexcited YouTube commenters or staging an intervention for a World of Warcraft addict, expect Barely Digital to cover gadgets, gaming, Obama's BlackBerry, the elite digerati, Ask Jeeves and Web 4.0 like nobody's business.

The network launched to coverage from The New York Times, where Brian Stelter credited Barely Political with helping "crystallize the view of [Barack Obama] as a pop culture figure" (awesome), NewTeeVee, who said, "these guys certainly do know how to rack up views on the web" (I love pulling selective quotes), Beet.tv, and AdRants, who warned us that "Justine Ezarik might have something to say about this." (no way -- we love iJustine!)

Creator Ben Relles will blog more here about all our plans for the network in the next day or two. In the meantime, please check out the first video, YouTube Comment Fight! -- already the #1 Science & Technology video on YouTube today -- and let us know what you think.

Here's the full press release:

Obama Girl Creators Launch Barely Digital to Make Tech Funny
Next New Networks Debuts Its First Tech-Focused Network

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - January 26, 2009) - Next New Networks, the leading online television company, today announced the launch of its new comedy network, Barely Digital. From the creative team behind Barely Political and the Obama Girl phenomenon, Barely Digital will showcase the same brand of satire, brought against the ripe target of the technology sector. Whether lampooning overexcited YouTube commenters or staging an intervention for a World of Warcraft addict, expect Barely Digital to cover gadgets, gaming, Obama's BlackBerry, the elite digerati, Ask Jeeves and Web 4.0 like nobody's business.

As the first Next New Network dedicated to tech comedy, Barely Digital will feature a number of regularly scheduled shows, including product reviews, comedy sketches, mashups and remixes of tech news footage, and digital shorts. And like the most popular hit programming of its sister network Barely Political, Barely Digital will also feature monthly music videos from the same team that's ruled the viral video charts since September 2007.

"I am predicting that one day things like video games, gadgets and websites will become popular, and we want to be there when that happens," said Ben Relles, Creator of Barely Digital. "When we shot the Obama Girl video most people didn't even know who Barack Obama was -- and now just a year and a half later he's been on both the 'Tyra Banks Show' and 'The View.'"

"In 2008, Barely Political set records and won millions of fans by satirizing the media's infatuation with politics. It was clearly the breakout online video property of the year," said Lance Podell, CEO, Next New Networks. "With Barely Digital, we're taking the same creative talent and applying it to the tech scene, which like politics, is another huge focus area of pop culture and media that's ripe for parody. Barely Digital is our first new network to launch in 2009, and we believe it will quickly become a very popular source for tech humor and entertainment."

Barely Digital's first videos and related content will go live this week at http://barelydigital.com with a lineup of sketches including "YouTube Comment Fight," and "Hipster Pod." Barely Digital is the company's first network dedicated to all things tech. The network is targeted to (no big surprise) men aged 18 to 35 and will focus on all those techie things this audience loves: gadgets, gaming, coding, social media and comedy.

About Next New Networks
Next New Networks is TV for the Internet. As the leading independent producer of online television networks, Next New Networks creates, packages, brands, markets and syndicates some of the Web's most popular regularly scheduled and episodic programming. Since its inception in March 2007, the company has launched sixteen networks, and its programming has been viewed more than 400 million times.

Hit programming from Next New Networks includes Channel Frederator (home of the popular series "Nite Fite"), Barely Political (the creators of Obama Girl), TMI Weekly (co-hosted by web celeb Julia Allison), daily auto news network Fast Lane Daily, DIY filmmaker network Indy Mogul, lifestyle network ThreadBanger, and your one-stop showcase of the cutest pets across the globe, Ultra Kawaii. The company, headquartered in New York, is privately owned, with investors including Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive. For more information, please visit www.nextnewnetworks.com.

Inauguration Day: Next New Networks Tops YouTube, Charms O'Reilly

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:25:12 EST

Today in the office, we were riveted to multiple streams of coverage -- NBC's digital broadcast on the office HDTV (we don't get cable) and many a laptop open to CNN/Facebook, Twitter, and our Tumblr dashboards (including the official inaugural tumblog). But now we're all taking a cue from the new White House staff and are hard back at work.

Barely Political currently has the top two most viewed videos on YouTube today, as pictured above, with the great Obama + Obama Girl "Red States, Blue States" duet and its remix, though we fully expect to get bumped whenever Obama's inaugural address appears on the site.

Amber had a great appearance on The O'Reilly Factor last night -- these two should make it a weekly thing -- they're great together. Video embedded below.

The rest of us are hard at work on some upcoming network and show launches, but we'll also have some videos from ThreadBanger in Washington later this week, and a whole lot more from the Barely Political team in D.C. Happy inauguration day, everyone.

Obama Girl, Live from D.C.

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:18:09 EST

The Barely Political team, fresh off their new music video with Barack, is broadcasting their adventures in D.C. at the Obama Inauguration live, courtesy of Stickam. They've been there since Sunday and Obama Girl is everywhere celebrating. Look for her second appearance on The O'Reilly Factor tonight at 8pm and 11pm ET, and live coverage is embedded below.

Express Yourself LIVE

The Best Short Films in The World goes to Sundance...kind of.

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:15:25 EST

I couldn't afford to buy a ticket to Sundance. So, I did the next best thing: Brought Sundance...to my apartment. This week we have a very special episode of The Best Short Films In The World featuring the filmmakers of the Sundance 2009 Film Festival.

In part 1 of our Sundance Film Festival 2009 Special, I sit down with Bryan Gaynor and Chadd Harbold of Last Pictures to discuss their Sundance-selected short film, "Asshole" starring Vice Magazine founder Gavin McInnes. I also interview Jessica Burstein, Robbie Norris, and Bartow Church of Dumb Bunny Productions in regards to their Sundance-selected short film,"Abbie Cancelled".

Check back later this week (January 22nd) to watch part 2 of our special! Featuring video FROM Sundance!

Threadbanger Celebrates 100 Weeks!

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:41:43 EST

100 weeks ago today we posted the very first episode of ThreadBanger. Not many people watched it...there's still only about 25 comments under it. Most of em from oldskool NNN employees wishing us the best...others, from bewildered viewers that didn't know what was the hell was goin on. Heck, we didn't even know what was goin on...or what we were getting ourselves into.

It's been a very organic process over the past 100 weeks. Lots of experimenting with the space...lots of lessons learned. Speaking of lessons learned, I had no idea how to even sew when I started this show. I was more a stencil and spray paint, safety pin and scissor kinda guy. Some 3 months in, someone finally wised up and commented "Why don't we ever see Rob sewing anything...it's always girl hands when somethings being sewn." BUSTED!!

Well I'm proud to say today that not only do I know how to sew but know how to make a successful web series as well. It's no big secret really, just listen to your audience... when you get 20 comments saying something sucks, don't do it again. When you get 20 letting you know it was brilliant....tell em it was all their idea.

-Rob Czar

Congratulations to Digitas, Agency of the Year

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:07:36 EST

Congratulations to our friends at Digitas, who were just named OMMA Magazine's Agency of the Year. In their profile, OMMA noted,

In 2008, Digitas did more than grow. For one, it became more creative, as evidenced by edgy, outlandish campaigns such as the "Share Something Juicy" effort for Starburst. Clients still come to Digitas because of its analytics and CRM capabilities, but today, the shop is becoming stronger at producing media-influenced creative; messages that live within their audiences' milieu.

Digitas was our leading agency partner in 2008, working with us on Starburst's highly successful sponsorship of our original series, Nite Fite (previous posts: one, two). And so we're especially proud that OMMA's profile cites it as one of the main examples of Digitas' breakout work last year:

Digitas' Starburst work also included sponsorship of a series of animated videos called "Nite Fite," which feature two characters arguing key questions of the day - such as whether or not Rush is a heavy metal band. (Okay, maybe not exactly "key.") The series has so far resulted in more than 2.5 million YouTube views, and a healthy number of video responses. "Their strategy was not about building a Web site. It was about being out there on the Web," explains Carole Walker, vice president of integrated marketing communications, Mars Snackfood U.S.

Congratulations to everyone at Digitas and thanks to them for being such great champions of Next New Networks and online video creators. Special props have to go to Third Act group director John McCarus and the whole Starburst Digitas team, including Sarah Passe, Kim Frost, Billy Seabrook, Ethan Morris and the always-insightful Christine Beardsell.

Noontime Nostalgia: Life in the Styx

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:43:13 EST

Once in a good long while, a song will emerge that is not to be forgotten. In 1977, that song was "Come Sail Away" by Styx. Although it only reached #8 on the Pop Singles Chart in its day, it embedded itself into our culture, which you can see with one quick scan of the song's Wikipedia page. Perhaps the ultimate nostalgia indicator can be found in another television show (that in many ways provided us with even more memories), South Park. Can you remember the last time that this song came on and it DIDN'T turn into the Wayne's World style Bohemian Rhapsody sing-a-long? Exactly. Perhaps another lip-dub by the ladies of TMI Weekly is in order?

Styx |MTV Music

This Noontime Nostalgia brought to you by epic power ballads, piano intros and your friend's Styx themed tumblr post.

Apple reinvents the wheel (The Onion)

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:12:53 EST

Happy new year everybody. It's hard to imagine starting 2009 without a big Steve Jobs Apple keynote, but in that spirit we enjoyed this video today from our friends at The Onion.

Fast Lane Daily Shoots Episode 500

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:46:54 EST

The FLD team celebrated the delivery of episode 500 by shooting in the Next New Networks office. It's a great way to acknowledge a milestone for the show and enjoy a little post-New Year's Day cheer.

We're very proud of Fast Lane Daily- the loyal following we've developed, and the passion that the FLD team and host Derek D bring to every episode we make. We're looking forward to the next 500 shows.

Introducing Great Moments in Technology

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:41:16 EST

After six fleeting weeks of interviews about how computers have impacted the music industry, NextNewNetworks are proud to introduce our second computer-themed series WePCtv.

Created by Vlad and Yuri Baranovsky and produced by team behind the popular internet sitcom, Break a Leg, Great Moments in Technology will explore how completely absurd that it must be to use cutting edge technology for the first time. Be sure to tune in next week to find out more about the creation of the computer!

The Five Films of Christmas

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:31:46 EST

Don't ruin your holiday with a bad movie, and don't miss the chance to see a great movie! Today on Christmas day, Hollywood has FIVE major releases hitting theaters, and Beyond the Trailer's Grace Randolph will be covering every single one.

Answering burning questions like:
Does VALKYRIE redeem Tom Cruise?
How does THE SPIRIT fare in a banner year for comic book movies?
Is MARLEY & ME a pedigree movie or a mutt?
Can THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON really be worthy of so many awards nominations?
Will Adam Sandler's BEDTIME STORIES put you to sleep?

So before you try to decide which movie of these star-studded movies is worth that shiny new twenty-dollar bill that you got from your grandma, you may want to tune in to Beyond the Trailer for behind-the-scenes gossip, industry expectations and audience reactions on every major Christmas release!

New in November, an experiment in video

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:17:57 EST

November has passed us by. It's gone, never to return again. Most Novembers are perfectly normal ... people go about their daily grinds, accomplishing the tasks before them, doing what needs to be done and then checking out.

Thanks to prodding of a few friends, however, this November was much more than the usual.

If you're familiar with the "how-to" realm of online video, you're probably aware of the silver-crested fox that is Bre Pettis. He created the wonderful Weekend Projects for Make Magazine, and has now moved onto some great stuff over at Etsy. I caught word from him of a new challenge, a new adventure, called "New In November," the goal being to create a NEW video every weekday throughout the entire month.

Initially, I balked. EVERY WEEKDAY? Don't these crazy fools know that I'm already making totally fun video already every day for work? How ridiculous to make MORE video when obviously my plate was already well-stocked with such things. I stuffed all that contradiction in the back of my mind and said yes. I would try this wild experiment.

Battling alongside me were Bill Cammack, Emmy award winning editor, and Clintus, a popular video blogger.

To keep things somewhat simple, I created rules for myself. The first rule being that from concept, to shooting, to final render, the video shouldn't take longer than an hour. The second rule was that it should be fun. The third rule was ... well, I guess I only had two rules.

It's not like I need an excuse to make a video, but goshdarnit, having an excuse was fun! Shooting an interview with Justin from Muxtape (for WEPCtv) turned into a fun little watercooler skit with Rob from ThreadBanger. I profiled people at the office, I even burned the place down, in my final episode.

All in all, having that excuse, and the peer pressure of Bill, Bre, and Clintus lead to me creating a handful of fun clips that would have never existed otherwise, perhaps just to stew in my head and then flutter away without consequence.

For his month finale, Bill put together this great video showing some highlights from everyone. Enjoy, and maybe you'll see round two next November!

Happy Holidays from Next New Networks

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:06:39 EST

Best of the holiday season and wishes for a healthy, happy and "sweet" new year from Next New Networks. We look forward to connecting again in 2009.

(Send this video as a holiday card.)

Resisting innovation? Hollywood?

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:36:06 EST

"Hollywood is one of the best examples of an established industry (and the movies an established art form) that ... relies on innovation for its survival, but resists innovation at every turn."

--Scott Kirsner, from the introduction "Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs"

Next New Networks' Poster Series #2

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:56:34 EST

Here's poster #2 in our limited edition series. I must say, with no ojectivity whatsoever, that I love it. Unlike the others we've been developing, this one went through a few different phases, mainly due to my lack of proper direction to our designer. As usual, a creative assisgnment is only as good as the client's input (garbage in, garbage out, and all that), and I was derelict in my duty. Luckily, we caught it in time and Frank did his usual amazing job. (Take a look here for the iterations of the poster we went through.)

As with all the posters in our series, Frank Olinsky is the (incredible) designer and illustrator. Hat's off Frank, another fantastic piece. Will Dunnigan handled all the poster production, and Next New Networks staffer Jeremy Kutner coordinated the whole thing. Thanks everyone.

Obama Girl Plots a Webby Win

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:32:17 EST

Once again, the Barely Political team knocks one out of the park! On a mission to take home a Webby, Obama Girl goes on a carefully crafted heist. Commissioned by the Webby Awards, Barely Political joins a talented legion of celebrated video makers who produced videos to promote the Webby's 13th Annual Call for Entries.

Obama Girl: The Catburglar

Mission: Webby from Webby Awards on Vimeo

The Webby Awards launched a Tumblr at the beginning of the week as a way to reach out to the community, letting them know about the entry deadline of December 19th. Check out the rest of the videos after the jump, and head over to their Tumblr to see a new video posted every day, including videos from the last year's Webby Awards, and the Webby Connect conference.

It's ~~Jerry~~ Webby Time! created by Jerry and Orrin Zucker

It's Webby Time! from Webby Awards on Vimeo

Tony vs. Paul vs. Webby by Tony and Paul

Tony vs. Paul vs. Webby from Webby Awards on Vimeo

Jake and Amir PSA

Jake and Amir from Webby Awards on Vimeo

Now go enter!!

TMI Weekly, sponsored by Degree

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:27:28 EST

TMI Weekly, our series with the ladies from Nonsociety, landed its first sponsor -- Degree Women Ultra Clear -- who will have a presence in several holiday-themed fashion episodes this month, as well as companion media across our network.

More details on this soon as the campaign rolls out, but we think everyone did a great job. Check out the first holiday episode below, which premiered today.

Noontime Nostalgia - A Christmas Clip

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:23:57 EST

Steeped in tradition, family and childhood memories, it's easy to have inexplicable urges towards some activity during the dreaded and celebrated holiday season. For some, the desire to decorate or bake and for others, to take a trip home or brush up on catchy holiday jingles. For me? It's all about the movies.

Now that one major turkey-centric event is over, it's time for more festivities. All my brain wants to do is watch the classic holiday movie, A Christmas Story. Even though it's been 25 years since the movie was made, that doesn't mean we've stopped shuddering at the thought of sticking our tongues to frozen flag poles or have stopped our quest for the perfect leg lamp replica. A Christmas Story still strikes all the right heart strings and puts those who view it in a celebratory spirit, no matter what holiday you observe.

This Noontime Nostalgia is brought to you by holiday cheer, and Ralphie's dream of a Red Ryder BB gun.

On the radio.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:02:53 EST

Our friend and former colleague George Stewart suggested me for an interview on Leonard Lopate's radio show on New York's NPR affiliate, WNYC, to discuss "TV on the Internet" with John Gottfreid (Devour.tv) and Geoffrey Drummond (A La Carte Communications). It turned out pretty well, considering the continuing surprise that some folks still have about how popular our medium really is. (Thank you, producer Leslie Dickstein.)

TV On The Web: The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC-FM

Introducing The Next New Networks Poster Series (#1)

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:24:37 EST

I was all set to tell you all about The Next New Networks Poster Series and then Jamison Tilsner over at Tilzy TV did it in a more eloquent, intelligent way. (All the writing at Tilzy is thoughtful and cogent in a way that's unusal for internet TV analysis. Check them out.) We wanted to take the NNN brands and give loyal fans a way to connect with us in a tangible, physical way. I mean, virtual is way great, as far as it goes, but what are you going to tack up on your bedroom wall anyhow?

We're honored to have the incomparable Frank Olinsky as the designer of the entire series of hand crafted posters (1000 first editions will be released montly through September 2009). Aside from creating logos for a number of our networks, Frank has been busy for decades as one of the world's leading music packagers, with work for everyone from Sonic Youth to the Kronos Quartet to Secret Machines. And, not at all incidentally, Frank was part of the team that designed the iconic MTV logo. Frank and I have been collaborating for too long to go into, but suffice it to say the first commission he did for me (and a bunch of other kids in the hood) was a first season, custom Fred Flintstone T-shirt. And not to neglect, print production was handled by another long time compadré, Will Dunnigan. NNN production was coordinated by Jeremy Kutner.

I'll post each month's poster as they come off the presses. Stay tuned.

If you read this blog...

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:37:58 EST

If you read this blog, you really should check out yesterday's New York Times Magazine. The whole thing. The theme: "How We Watch Stuff."

"This year, we've stretched the issue to reflect a new reality: when you watch moving pictures these days, a theater is the last place you are likely to be."

So true, huh? Articles about Jennifer Anniston (you know you really want to read it), advertising in the modern world of screens screens screens, and (on the web only) video of the "moments that mattered." Plus David Lynch on why he's an internet weatherman.

I Want My WePC

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:07:36 EST

Everyday people are modifying, improving or hacking computers or software to meet their needs. By why should we have to? With so many computers on the market, shouldn't there be one that works for all of our needs? Since life doesn't really work that way, Next New Networks has teamed up with a superstar line-up of web producers to make a series that highlights who, what, where, and how are people using personal computers and off the shelf or custom software to do extremely cool, awesome, and world changing things.

Over the course of the next four months, WePCtv will roll out four original shows that address how computer technology has changed the world we live in and our daily lives from a unique angle. The first of which, I Want My MP3, is an interview series that will highlight innovators from different music backgrounds to uncover how personal technology has helped them grow as a person and as a professional.

In this week's episode we talked to Scott Norton, a recording engineer and co-owner of Headgear Recording who has contributed to albums by Animal Collective, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and TV on the Radio.

Lastly, this series wouldn't be possible without our sister site, WEPC.com, and sponsor, ASUS and Intel. ASUS and Intel plan to work together to make the next wave of revolutionary computers, and want to hear from you to build the perfect PC. They are interested in finding out where do you work from, how do you organize, and what features are important to you. So head over to wepc.com to find out more about how your habit and ideas can help build a new computer that is perfect for you.

Interview with Kathleen Grace, co-creator of The Burg

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:14:37 EST

Today I had the chance to sit down with Kathleen Grace, established web series producer and co-creator of The All for Nots and The Burg, to talk about what a video creator needs to create a successful web series.

Q: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishments in the online video space?
A: I consider both The Burg and the All for Nots pretty great accomplishments, but in different ways. the Burg was awesome cause we all created a show from the ground up and it did really well. We generated a lot of buzz and built a fan base. The All for Nots was an accomplishment in a different way in that it was a much bigger production and we had to learn how to work with a "studio" and get notes, work within budgets, and deliver on a strict deadline.

Q: Who have been some of your favorite people to work with? Why?
A: I love the casts and crews of both shows in different ways. They were all amazing to work with. One person that I really liked working with on the All for Nots was Melissa Schneider. It was the first time Thom and I had another producer involved. She really supported us and pushed us to work better. She was really in it to win it. She was really fun and hard working.

Q: What advise do you have for some one who is planning to make a new web series?
A: Make sure you have a hook. Don't just make a show about 5 friends hanging out . Make a satire about 5 friends hanging out in an up and coming neighborhood that everyone loves to make fun of. Make a show about a fake band going cross country. Also make sure it's quick and easy to shoot. Something you can do while having a day job. And make it interactive.

Q: What are some qualities that a web producers needs to be successful?
A: Tenacity. Never give up. Work harder than anyone else. But as tenacious as you are be open minded and flexible. Always look new, creative solutions to problems.

Q: Several online producers like yourself have agents, managers, or both. If you had to choose between one or the other, which do you think makes the most sense for a rising video creator?
A: I have both an agent and a manager. My production partner Thom and I are both repped by CAA and Generate, a management company in LA. Each has it's strengths. Managers are great at creating projects for you. Agents are great at selling projects for you. For a young video creator I would advise getting a manager- they will introduce you to people. You'll meet 5 new comedians or writers or actors. They'll help push you to create new and different things.

Noontime Nostalgia - When We Fell in Love

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:14:31 EST

Some point while growing up, there was an instant when you realized that what you were watching on your television or computer was really exceptional. Scenes that entertained you so wholly that you still make jokes and references about them. For a while there, you were probably put out that you'd never see that snippet or segment again but nowadays, memories of shows past are limited not by how you find the clip but how far back your memory stretches. It's time that we at Next New Networks, paid a bit of tribute to the montages, jokes, shows, comedians, and movies that we can now watch, without scrounging, rewinding, borrowing or staying up until 2am to watch something on cable.

It seems only right we kick off our Noontime Nostalgia blog series days after one of the most beloved sketch comedy troupes of all time started a channel on YouTube. Monty Python now has many favorite clips and sketches up for your enjoyment and I don't think it's a coincidence that the Black Knight is still a favorite and at the top of their most watched clips.

This Noontime Nostalgia is brought to you by the Holy Grail and flesh wounds.

[April Buchert is a freelance writer who's working with Next New Networks to help develop new marketing initiatives. -- Felicia]

Indy Mogul goes Beyond the Trailer

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:06:13 EST

How many times have you seen a great trailer for an awful movie - or paid full price to see a film when all the best scenes are in the trailer? Beyond the Trailer, which launched earlier this week, goes beyond the fast-cuts and god-like voiceovers to find out what you're really getting when you buy your movie ticket. Hosted by Grace Randolph, the writer, creator, and host of RevYou and TVrecap, Beyond the Trailer uncovers industry expectations, behind the scenes gossip, and audience reactions.

As the newest addition to the NextNewNetworks family, Beyond the Trailer will be joining BFX and Best Short Film in the World over on IndyMogul, the network dedicated to DIY filmmakers and film lovers. Now, no matter where your film interests lie, Indy Mogul has a show for you. BackyardFX offers how-to's for DIY filmmaker, Best Short Films in the World lets you know what's playing on the computer right in front of you, and Beyond The Trailer gives you the inside track on what's playing at a theater near you.

Last but not least, Beyond the Trailer is the first of many series to be picked up by our super distribution network. What does that mean? Well, here at NNN we only have so many hands and small NY studio to make new programming, so we are starting to integrate independent producers projects into our networks. So stay tuned for more show announcements and information about how you can become involved.

5 Green Dreams for President Obama

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:36:29 EST

I'm not sure, but ZapRoot may have won for the first of our shows out the gate with a post-President-Elect Obama video. Watch below as they share their top 5 green dreams for 2009. (YouTube link)

Yes we can.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:49:15 EST

Poster designed by Shepard Fairey

I'm feeling particular close to the presidential win this year, as the whole world seems to be. Whatever side of the fence you might sit on, or even in between fences, there seems to be a recognition that something fundamental has shifted in our emotional tectonic plates. Surely, most of our ills will still be illing in the years to come, but somehow or other we've opened up that uniquely American door that anything is possible.

Not to shift to quickly to business, but one reason for my affection for the season is the unbelievable work done by Ben Relles and his Barely Political team, and their star Amber Lee Ettinger who plays Obama Girl. I "met" Obama Girl before our professional association, when I saw the original video on MSNBC one night, and I realized that something here was different. Of course, Barack Obama had nothing to do with the video, but there was something humanizing about the whole thing and I started to feel like I knew this man was different than anyone else. He proved that to be true, and the BP team proved they could keep up with our ups and downs through the best reality show television had to offer.

Thanks America. We're looking forward.

Obama

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:47:37 EST

These two images are being reblogged all over Tumblr and the web right now. Together, they say a lot.

(OMG design by Michael Buchino.)

I Voted... for Obama Girl!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:26:31 EST

Didn't get your "I Voted" sticker because of record turnout at the polls? Show your support for 4 More Years of Obama Girl. Choose your favorite badge below and embed on your site, or right-click and save the image and use it for your Facebook or Twitter avatar! Thanks to Lee for the quick workup!

Grab This Code:

In the News Roundup

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:22:03 EST

We don't blog all our press (that's what the Next News Feed is for), but in the last week we got some really great coverage, not just linked around the Web, but on TV, too, and in glossy print magazines that we could buy and share with our folks. Here's a quick roundup of some of our favorite stories, before tomorrow's election buries all other news forever.

Our own Steve Nelson (Bull), Ian Jenkins, Tom Small and Rusty Ward (Bear) in the latest Fortune.

This month's Fortune Magazine featured a two page spread in the print edition, and an online photo gallery about Barely Political and Next New Networks, including the photo above, taken in our conference room.

Meanwhile, this month's GQ featured Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl, in their photo portfolio of the key figures of 2008's election, alongside people like will.i.am, Rosario Dawson, Rachel Maddow, and Maria Shriver.

And if that's not enough, both Politico and FOX News chose "Crush on Obama" as one of the top moments of the 2008 campaign.

Not to be outdone, Erik Beck and the gang at Indy Mogul showed up in Popular Mechanics last week, in a roundup of Halloween costume tips, as well as a profile on G4's Attack of the Show, embedded below.

Great work and congratulations, everyone!

Wrap it up! Garage 419!

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:14:34 EST

Autoblog writer Alex Nunez obviously had a great time at the Garage 419 Invitational, as you can read in some of these excerpts from his coverage. Congratulations to the whole G419 team!

So, exactly a week ago, I was in Mt. Kisco at Grand Prix New York for the first annual (hopefully) Garage419 Invitational. Put simply, it was great. Big props to Matt Farah and the crew at Next New Networks for organizing the whole shindig, which put a big, fun group of guys (and one gal) together for an afternoon of karting and comraderie for a good cause -- Racing 4 Research and the Children's Tumor Foundation.

Farah had some fun with the field, making sure the course was nice and wet during qualifying to ensure that slippery fun would be had by all.

(Read the rest of Alex's piece here.)

Happy Frederween!

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:33:45 EDT

Happy Frederween! from justin on Vimeo.

We love Fred. He wears the same thing every day, and has a couple catch phrases. At every place he's worked at, his employees have dressed up like him as a joke -- this was our year, and here's our little video celebration of the man himself.

(reposted from Vimeo)

ThreadBanger Handcrafted Halloween party in NYC tonight!!!!

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:05:20 EDT

From Lindsey:

Just a reminder that tonight is Threadbanger's Handcrafted Halloween Costume Party! (aka the best party of the year that you will NOT want to miss).

Where: Mercury Lounge, NYC (217 E. Houston St, between Ludlow and Essex)
When: 8pm-12am

We're kicking off the night with DJ's The Delyle Sisters, and then there will be a fashion show/costume contest, starring the party goers with the best costumes (we'll be handing out numbers to people at the event who have the best most creative costumes). The grand prize winner will be receiving a ThreadBanger sewing machine. THEN, our very own Steve Nelson (and co) will be performing a few songs, including a Halloween song and then the band Midnight Fistfight goes on. (YAAAAAAAHHHH)

Also, if you don't have a costume, there will be a Zombie Cloak room (sponsored by Zombie A Go-Go) with professional makeup artists to do your Zombie Makeup for FREE (so you don't have an excuse to not come)! We'll also have free organic treats including cupcakes, brownies and cookies. And last but not least, if you noticed the awesome goody bags in the office, we are giving them to the first 100 party goers, so get there early.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this every possible especially Rob and Corinne (obviously), Erin, Lee, Jeaux, Kendra, Nina and Jacob! Also, a huge thanks to everyone that sponsored the event: Tumblr, Disqus, American Sewing Expo, Instructables, HowCast, PONO, Coats and Clark, Simplicity, Craft, CraftStylish, Zombie A Go-Go, Nature's Shea Butter, Kreinik Metallic Thread, Dritz, and M&J Trim.

Thanks to our new sponsor, Cotton!

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:31:12 EDT

Next New Networks is thrilled to announce that ThreadBanger has an additional sponsor that launched this month, Cotton's new online web series, Inseam.

Inseam profiles three emerging female designers with one thing on their minds: fashion! In true DIY fashion, the show emphasizes how the individual designers connect with the material as a tool in the artistic process. Irrespective of vision, the material is what designers all have in common, making Cotton another great endemic sponsor and a particularly relevant fit for Threadbanger.

So check out Inseam here, and let's thank them for supporting ThreadBanger!

LA vloggers rocked the house

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:08:00 EDT

Brigitte Dale, Felicia Day. See more photos by Techzulu.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Vlogfest reunion party last Monday. Thrown together by Next New Networks' Felicia and Toni when we realized that Felicia, Michelle and I would be in town last week, we hoped maybe a dozen of our friends from the LA video world would show up. I guess everyone really needed a chance to get together, because we had about a hundred of LA's best online video creators come through Renee's in Santa Monica, making the courtyard look like our iTunes and YouTube subcriptions come to life.

Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahchan. See more photos by George Ruiz.

Michelle DeForest and Zadi Diaz. See more photos by Techzulu.

Roll call included Steve and Zadi from Epic Fu, Project Pedal's Mike Ambs and Amanda Walker, Ask a Ninja's Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, Zaproot's Sarah Szalavitz, Noodlescar's Bonny Pierzina, Rudy and Casey from Galacticast and Pulp Secret, Felicia Day from The Guild and Dr. Horrible, Rick Rey and brother Eric, ABC Family's Brigitte Dale, and videoblogger super-agent George Ruiz, as well as gangs from Strike TV and Tiki Bar TV, and our good friend Micki Krimmel.

Tiki Bar TV's Tosca Musk, Jeff Macpherson. See more photos by Techzulu.

We intended the night as a chance to celebrate how far we'd all come since the Halloween Vlogfest party two years ago, and everyone did have a great time together, but after several weeks of bad economic news, some of the conversations were pretty sober, despite the open bar. The next year is looking daunting for independent creators as advertisers rethink their spending, studios are trying to conserve their funding, and competition is still growing -- all while the mainstream Hollywood business many LA videobloggers rely on for day work has been cutting back since before the writer's strike.

At Next New Networks, we're fielding intense advertiser interest, with major new sponsors contacting us daily, and I believe strongly that the low-cost value and growing audience of online video will be a beacon for sponsorship, so there couldn't have been a better time for us to get together with our friends on the West Coast and tell them that we're feeling better than ever about online television, and that we're seeing lots of opportunity for people like them, who have proven again and again that they can create great entertainment on budgets that would barely cover craft services for network TV.

In the coming weeks and months, we're going to be rolling out more opportunities for independent creators backed by major sponsors who really believe in this space. We're grateful for their support, and know from the two year track record that we and everyone at that party have amassed that we can deliver value unmatched by any other media, which is the best thing you could possibly offer in times like these.

Kent Nichols, Felicia Day and me. See more photos by George Ruiz.

Some related posts from the party: Expert Insight on the Economic Crisis...From Online Video Elite! by NewTeeVee's Liz Shannon Miller, and Despair and New Media, by Ask a Ninja's Kent Nichols.

2008 Vlogfest Reunion

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:10:12 EDT

Two years ago, in a nondescript office park in Santa Monica, many friendly LA online video faces met for the first time. The original cast of characters included Steve and Zadi of Epic Fu, the Amanda Across America team, Alex Albrecht from Diggnation, Ask a Ninja, French Maid TV, Big Fantastic and other rockstar videomakers like Noodlescar, Invisible Engine, Mickipedia, The Rey Brothers, and Steve Garfield.

Wow, look how far videoblogging has come.

To fit with the reunion theme, many of original party-goers are invited to drink on us and our co-hosts and we hope all our new LA friends will join the fun as well! So stop on by and find your favorite friend from years past or come make some new ones. The location is still TBD. No costumes necessary unless that's your thing.

Please let us know if you'll be there, and here's a Facebook page for the event.

The Associated Press loves ThreadBanger

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:36:50 EDT

The Associated Press put out a story today highlighting ThreadBanger's great tips for making your own Halloween costumes, which has already shown up on no less an outlet than ABC News, complete with photos of Rob and Corinne.

Make Your Own Halloween Fairy or Mummy Costume on ABC News.

This story grew out of ThreadBanger's growing work with the Craft and Hobby Association, who have been championing ThreadBanger as the future of crafting, including featuring ThreadBanger recently at the American Sewing Expo. Congrats to Rob, Corinne and Erin for cultivating such a great relationship.

Recently on Twitter!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:20:51 EDT

As a new feature here on the blog, we're ripping off the great Jason Kottke and running recent excerpts from our Twitter feed (and the occasional tweet from someone on our our team). Are you following Next New Networks on Twitter? We used to use it simply to publish links to new episodes, but now we're using it to talk more directly to our fans, highlight standout programming, and post links to news articles and blog posts about the company.

Recently on twitter:

@nalts posted a funny video in honor of @reelfeed joining NNN: http://tinyurl.com/4nzo9b
WSJ: Obama Girl as Palin? Lionsgate Spoof Takes Off http://bit.ly/1CGCUA
See Fred speak at CTAM w/ execs from Google, Amazon, Scripps and TW... We're in the big leagues! http://bit.ly/jq5ry
check out this interview from @Beet_TV: NNN sells out! http://tinyurl.com/3wz6gu
@feliciaday congrats on your epic HOUSE guest spot! (http://tinyurl.com/3vokk7) We can't wait for it to be up on Hulu.

More to come. If you'd like to follow Next New Networks people on Twitter, here's a roundup:

Nite Fite takes over YouTube

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:56:56 EDT

For 24 hours today (starting midnight ET Oct 6), thanks to a promotional commitment from our sponsor, Starburst, our great animated series Nite Fite is being featured on the front page of YouTube in the upper-right spot usually reserved for advertiser videos, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Nite Fite is not a branded entertainment series, like many other videos that have appeared in that space. It's a fully independently-owned show that has a standalone sponsor integration within each episode, not unlike Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Comedy and its sponsorship by Burger King. The Cavalcade is being distributed by a Google AdSense buy, just as we're getting a distribution boost from our front page buy (which we fully expect to be effective, as the show is good enough to have viewers then rate it, share it, and forward it along). I think it's a tremendously innovative way for an advertiser to get their messaging out to the YouTube audience. By embedding a sponsorship in a YouTube partner channel (in this case Channel Frederator) that already has a ton of credibility and love in the YouTube community (with over 20,000 subscribers and 13mm views), Starburst is promoting a great independent show that deserves a wider audience, and getting their sponsorship viewed at the same time.

As of now, the latest episode, "TV is Crap," has been up for around 1424 hours, been viewed ~~120,000~~300,000 times, and is holding steady at a four-star rating, with comments from viewers like, "this is the first ad on youtube that was actually good," and, "Finally, a sponsored video that's actually funny." But my favorite one of all is this one from Trayxx:

I just clicked in to this 45 minutes ago out of curiousity, now after watching all the eps I'm hooked! Great job and keep it up!

One of the smartest people I know in the space, 7 Robot's Sarah Szalavitz, a programming advisor of ours and, along with Damien Somerset, one of the owner-producers of our hit show Zaproot, has long been saying that companies like ours should spend less on producing and more on promoting content. Today's trial, the results of which we'll share here later in the week, could be a great model, not unlike the Seth McFarlane deal, for tying sponsorship and promotion together to get great programming in front of a wider audience.

Introducing TMI Weekly

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:20:19 EDT

Today we launched both our latest network and a new kind of programming for Next New Networks with TMI Weekly, our new collaboration with Nonsociety founders Julia Allison, Meghan Asha and Mary Rambin.

TMI Weekly is a new kind of talk show for the web - fast-paced, to the point, and funny. Mary, Meghan and Julia talk about style, personal technology, and life, sex and relationships in three segments, which we'll release Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But it pretty much speaks for itself -- check out this week's episode, Prom for Grownups, above, and there's already a few weeks' more of episodes up on the website to check out.

It's been a lot of fun for our team putting this project together over the past few months, and we're thankful to the Nonsociety team in how great they've been working through a new model with us in developing and launching the network together. The show's getting a lot of reaction today, and it's going to be fun to see where it goes. I can tell you, this team's in it for the long haul, and they're going to win.

Felicia Williams is at Next New Networks

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:23:19 EDT

We're all really happy that Felicia Williams has come to join us as Next New Networks' new Director of Community Programming, charged with developing new models for programming and entertainment for the communities we serve, and new ways of working with independent and emerging talent. We've gotten to know and admire Felicia during her groundbreaking work at The Daily Reel and YouTube, and she's long been one of the people in the business that we really felt a kinship with in terms of our hopes and vision for online video, so it's great to have her join our team.

A lot of people who read this blog might already know Felicia from her great work in the space, but here's some more about her:

Born in the same dusty mill town as Jack Kerouac, Felicia has mirrored the travels of the famous writer for the past decade. Having lived in Lowell, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, she has become rather accustomed to life on the road and holds great pride in the ablity to live out of a single suitcase.

A writer by nature, Felicia's passion for film and media began in high school, where she volunteered as a news anchor for her local TV station. Reporting on such hard-hitting stories as the local clothing drive and that new diner that just opened outside of town, Felicia realized that alternative media was a lot more fun then stuffy old network news. Continuing on her newfound media path, Felicia attended NYU to study Journalism and Cinema Studies.

After college, Felicia dove right into the world of film and television. Working as a production assistant for film (The Departed, The Gardener of Eden, Pride and Glory) and television (Law and Order: SVU, The Bedford Diaries), she had the opportunity to work at every dirty street corner and abandoned warehouse that New York City had to offer. Bored of the scenery, she moved to LA where she worked on her last major motion picture before finding her home on the Internet.

In 2006, Felicia signed on as the second employee and Assistant Editor of The Daily Reel, an online magazine about online video. Returning to her writing roots, she interviewed such popular web producers as Renetto, Smosh, LisaNova, and Nalts. While writing reviews on undiscovered talent and videos online, Felicia also developed and produced a web show that she scripted and hosted with the help of NNN's own Michelle Deforest (who was also at The Daily Reel).

Falling more and more in love with online video, Felicia left The Daily Reel in 2007 to work on the Editorial/Content team for YouTube. Specializing in a broad range of topics that included pets, travel, video games, web series, and celebrity news, Felicia programmed the Featured Videos for several YouTube category pages and the homepages of both US and Canada.

Welcome, Felicia -- it means great things ahead for everyone who works with us.

Yes, that's really Ralph Nader

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:31:08 EDT

Just when you thought the '08 election couldn't get any weirder, today Barely Political has its biggest guest spot yet. Check out our new fall sitcom that dares to imagine what would happen if two real political mavericks -- the girl who loves Obama, and the guy who hates lemons -- had to share an office?

I think we've got to order a full 22 episodes of this one.

Online video creators can help get out the vote

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:59:03 EDT

The team over at VoteforChange.com is running a campaign to get online video creators to help spread the word about their site, which is simple and easy to use, and could literally help you find out whether you're registered to vote, where your polling place is, or how to vote absentee in the time it took you to read this sentence.

Here's a video that our own Derek D and Alan Kaufman made for Fast Lane Daily:

The site was built by Barack Obama's campaign as a non-partisan effort aimed at making voting easy, so it's worth using no matter who you're voting for.

Time is running out -- in most states, registration deadlines hit around the end of next week. Blog the link, tell your friends, and if you make a video promoting Vote for Change, let us know -- we'll post them here, and run the best ones in some of our shows.

Help make History Hacker a real show!

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:16:21 EDT

Who said videoblogging can't make you a living? In 2006, good friend of Next New Networks and Indy Mogul guest star Bre Pettis was a high school art teacher and all around super guy I met at SXSW, one of a literal handful of us running around with video cameras that year. Two years later, he's got a great new series pilot, History Hacker, debuting on the History Channel. As Bre says,

The folks at History gave the producer, director, and director of photography permission to take my DIY style of making videos with lots of jump cuts and direct talking to the camera and push it forward into a longer format. It doesn't look like anything else on TV.

Watch it (or even better, DVR it) this September 26th at 8pm and midnight, and email the History Channel or post in the forums to help make Bre the first videoblogger to get a full TV series.

Go, Bre! This couldn't happen for a more awesome guy.

OMG We're huge too!

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:45:12 EDT

This week we've been running a video billboard in Times Square, every 13 minutes, to coincide with the Web 2.0 Expo NY and the New York TV Festival. Clear Channel has been giving us a free slot every couple months or so, which is awesome -- you might remember the last time, when we used it to Rick Roll Times Square.

Here's some video, shot by Ian and Alan. Big props to Justin for creating our hugest promo ever (Watch it in HD on Vimeo).

Video 2.0 Panel this Thursday

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:33:42 EDT

In addition to the speaking engagements we linked yesterday, we'll also be on a panel Thursday as part of the Web 2.0 Expo at the Javits Center that looks like a lot of fun. The description's below -- come check it out if you can.

Video 2.0: Filling In Gaps in The Video Content Ecosystem
4:10pm Thursday, Sept 18
Rooms 1A06 &07

Kenyatta Cheese (Rocketboom.com)
Timothy Shey (Next New Networks)
Jim Louderback (Revision3)
Ricky Van Veen (CollegeHumor.com)

This panel brings together some of the leaders of the professional online video content industry to talk about how and who they source content from, their current distribution strategies, who they think are innovating in this emerging industry, and what opportunities they see for both independent content creators and the networks forming around them.

Hope to see you there - let us know if you need help getting in.

Come see us this week in NYC

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:13:24 EDT

We've got a ton of things going on this week with the New York Television Festival, Web 2.0 Expo NY, and OMMA in town. If you're in NYC this week, we hope you can come out to an event or two and meet some of our team.

Monday Sept 15

Ignite NYC II
NY TV Festival @ New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, 7-10pm

Come say hi to me, Michelle DeForest, and more NNN peeps at the kickoff of Web 2.0 Expo and the night of NYTVF's Industry Day.

Tuesday Sept 16

NYTVF Digital Day
New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, 11a-7pm

1:15 pm Promoting Your Web Series (with our friends Dina from Blip.tv and Kathleen and Thom of The All-for-Nots)
3:30 pm Sponsorship and Monetization of Digital Content (Tim Shey w/ Jim Louderback of Revision3, Peter Hoskins of ManiaTV)
4:30 pm Keynote panel: The New Storytellers: What Works on the Web (Fred Seibert w/ speakers from Stage9, MSN, IFC)

Where Internet and Film Collide
7PM at Taj (48 West 21st St NYC) rsvp@indiegogo.com

Join our network Indy Mogul, TubeMogul, and IndieGoGo for a night of drinks and music with independent filmmakers and webheads alike.

Wednesday Sept 17

Web 2.0 Expo New York
Javitz Convention Center

Next New Networks is the exclusive video partner of the first ever Web 2.0 Expo in New York. Come see our videos before each of the keynote sessions on Wednesday through Friday and look out for our crews hanging around the event. Next New Networks viewers get $100 off registration with the code webny08bm21.

Thursday Sept 18

The Next New Networks company cruise around lower Manhattan! This is a private event for our team, but if you really, really want to go, send me an email and we can see if there's room on the boat...

Friday Sept 19

So you Want to Make a Fortune in Video?
OMMA Global Expo, Marriott Marquis, 1525 Broadway

I'll be speaking once again on money and online video along with Mike Hudack of Blip.tv and speakers from ON Networks, Beet TV, Vignette, and Revision3.

The Story of Barely Political

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:44:02 EDT

Current TV put together a really fantastic profile on the origin and growth of Barely Political, embedded below. I have to especially thank the producers for putting up footage of me when Ben talks about the "depth of talent" available at Next New Networks (although he really meant people like Rusty, Tom, Justin, Alan, Lee, Ben, Liam, Diane, Andres, and many more who have played a role). But seriously, it's a great piece and one of the first Obama Girl stories I've seen that shows the Ben and Amber and Leah we've gotten to know and love the past year.

Gossip Girl and the Dirty Mouth Moment

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:04:54 EDT

We're always looking for new ways to integrate sponsorships. Nite Fite's 15 second Starburst spots, Threadbanger branded Janome Sewing Machines, the list keeps growing.

Here are two examples in traditional television that look very similar to some of the integrations we've done. What are some sponsorship integrations you've seen?

"Gossip Girl": White Party, sponsored by Vitamin Water.

In Monday night's Gossip Girl, the exclusive end of summer Hampton's party is sponsored by Vitamin Water. Not only do they get a spot on the invitation, but Vitamin Water is actually served at the bar in Martini glasses. In a dramatic moment, Dan gets caught two-timing and the girls respond by splashing him with different colored Vitamin Waters.

"The Soup": Dirty Mouth Moment, brought to you by Orbit gum.

Before a commercial break each week, Orbit gum sponsors a "Dirty Mouth Moment." Watch Renny cuss out Michelle on Big Brother.

Obama Girl on the Tonight Show

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:11:35 EDT

We already love Jay Leno for appearing for a week on Fast Lane Daily, and NBC for featuring Obama Girl (aka Amber Lee Ettinger) on Saturday Night Live, so it's only natural that Amber showed up again as "the one person whose endorsement really matters" in Mo Rocca's report from the DNC on Tuesday's Tonight Show. The full clip's embedded below.

Thanks again, Jay and NBC!

Life's a blast

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:13:08 EDT

On top of the usual Manhattan noise (horns, sirens, squealing brakes) that we try to deal with even in our 9th and 10th floor studios, this summer we've also had to put up with unbelievably loud jackhammering through bedrock as a massive foundation for a new high-rise hotel across the street is being dug. This week, they started with controlled detonations a couple times a day, which at least gives us something fun to watch. Our supervising producer Alan Kaufman took a little video with his handheld camera.

Good to be a Banker

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:03:17 EDT

Since it's Friday before Labor Day and the entire Internet is winding down, let's just watch a funny new video, Damn it Feels Good to Be a Banker, by our friend Nate Houghteling (the guy in the vest) and his partners at Portal-A Productions, promoting Leveraged Sellout's new book (also available in HD).

Also check out their really funny series from last year, Huge in Asia.

Hah!

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:01:13 EDT

Read this any which way you want, the future of TV is brighter than it's ever been.

Announcing Janome's ThreadBanger series machines

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:14:41 EDT

The Janome ThreadBanger TB12 machine
In last week's episode of ThreadBanger, we dropped a big piece of news on the DIY fashion world: Next New Networks and our lead sponsor on ThreadBanger, Janome, have teamed up to release the ThreadBanger series of Janome sewing machines, two new licensed products for DIY fashionistas everywhere. Watch the news on ThreadBanger in the episode below, or read about it on their blog.

This is part of the amazing momentum with advertisers we've been having, as highlighted in today's TV Week article by Daisy Whitney, and shows another example of the many creative and deep ways online networks can partner with sponsors to reach the same communities. The new machines are now in stores across the country, getting the word out about ThreadBanger in all those points of sale, and we also benefit from the sale of every machine through our licensing relationship. Best of all, they're state of the art, entry-level computerized sewing machines starting at a great price point ($299, less than a 16GB iPod Touch) -- the kind of thing ThreadBanger would promote to their audience in any case.

If that wasn't great enough, this weekend Mary, our indefatigably cool office manager, opened up People magazine to see that ThreadBanger was "What's In" for fashion this month! Check out the scans below, and pick up this week's issue to see for yourself. Great going, Rob and Corinne and the ThreadBanger team!

Update: Brian Conley and other Beijing detainees released

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:31:37 EDT

You won't have heard this anytime during NBC's TV coverage of last night's closing ceremonies, although it is getting plenty of coverage in the news (MSNBC, NYT, WP, WSJ, BBC, LAT, CNN) but Brian's wife Eowyn emailed us all yesterday with the happy news that our friend Brian Conley and seven other US citizens who were detained in Beijing last Tuesday have been released and were being deported back to the US, to arrive in Los Angeles this morning.

Brian and the others, including James Powderly, an artist who works with Eyebeam here in New York, had been in custody for several days without word before Eowyn heard that they would be held for ten days, until August 30, as punishment for being involved (in Brian's case, simply documenting as a citizen journalist, like many of the accredited reporters on the scene, who were not arrested) in a protest by Students for a Free Tibet, but likely due to advocacy and pressure from their friends and family and the resulting media attention, they were released 6 days ahead of schedule.

I'm happy to hear they'll be back with their friends and families soon after a scary week -- and I can't speak for anyone else here, but this has highlighted for me the freedoms we take for granted here: freedom to organize and demonstrate, to protest for a cause, to get due process (and a phone call) when arrested, and to film and document what's happening in a public place (not to mention, to make silly videos about our presidential candidates) -- all of which have had limits imposed in our own country in recent years in the name of security. With the elections heating up this month and both parties' candidates staking out their platforms, I hope that doesn't get lost as an issue. Freedom FTW in '08.

Two great NewTeeVee articles this weekend

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:30:09 EDT

We usually don't blog our press much here, but everyone at Next New Networks has been working incredibly hard all summer, and two articles posted on NewTeeVee point out a few of the things people here have been putting a lot of time into trying to make happen. So it's as good a time as any to congratulate our great team and let them know that others are starting to notice.

In Daisy Whitney's latest column, "When Web Video Beats Old Media at its Own Game," she points out a longtime obstacle in making VOD work, the lack of dynamic ad insertion capabilities, and highlights the recent things we've been doing to enable dynamic sponsor and ad insertion into our catalog of videos, and the campaign we just wrapped up across many of our networks for Universal's Death Race.

If you tuned into a recent episode of Indy Mogul last week you'd probably have seen host Erik Beck mention the show's sponsor, Universal Studios' Death Race. And if you tuned into a 2007 episode of Indy Mogul last week you'd also have seen Beck tout Death Race there too.

That's because Next New Networks, which produces and distributes the do-it-yourself visual effects show, has implemented technology from both Freewheel and Castfire that lets the web studio insert fresh ads, bumpers and host shout-outs for current ad campaigns into both current and older episodes in the Next New Networks catalog, imitating a longstanding practice in the traditional TV business.

[Full article]

And on Friday, in NewTeeVee Station (their guide to shows worth watching on the web), Jill Weinberger turned in her latest review, "Barely Political: Not Just Obama Girl Anymore." Jill points out what we've been saying all along -- that the videos that our brilliant team, including Rusty Ward, Tom Small, Mark Douglas and Mike Stevens, are doing have added a new dimension with "drier, more sophisticated humor -- more Daily Show than JibJab."

From two white guys rapping about buying a battleship just to go fishing in Stimulus Package, to Leah Kauffman's pleading with Ann Coulter to perfect her, to Hillary angling for Obama's VP slot with a well-timed Tom and Jerry reference, there's a little something for everyone. It's not all jabs at Repubs and Obama-stroking, either; with a tip to McCain's balls and even some sympathetic Ron Paul coverage, there's plenty of love to go around.

[Full review]

The review also recognized other great shows like Nite Fite and Zaproot, and spoke of Next New Networks as a "source of original content to be reckoned with." That's a great accolade that's much appreciated -- and with the slate of new networks and shows we've got on the way this fall and winter, I hope we'll do even more to live up to it.

Brian Conley detained along with activists in Beijing

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:46:10 EDT

Brian Conley, a good friend of Next New Networks and creator of the web series Alive in Baghdad, and who produced a series for us on Veracifier, was detained Tuesday morning in Beijing, where he was filming a protest by Students for a Free Tibet, along with several protesters and activists. Another person I know, James Powderly of Eyebeam's Grafitti Research Lab, was also detained at the time.

Brian, a very recent newlywed, sent a text message to his wife that they were in jail and "all fine," but much more information has not been available. Previous people detained for exercising rights they don't have in China were quickly deported, but right now friends of Brian are anxiously awaiting news of his release.

We're of course worried about Brian, who's incredibly brave and uncompromising in his work trying to give a voice to people in impossible political situations -- but also, if there's anyone who can get through a fix like this with calm and a level head, it's him, so I'm hopeful. We'll keep everyone posted here if there's anything they can do -- but in the meantime Brian's many friends are blogging the news and getting the word out, and if you have friends in the State Department or with some pull (like a congressperson), please make sure they know about it.

Here's video of the protest and the arrests from Students for a Free Tibet, via our friends at Moblogic.

Vote for Team N this SXSW

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:21:38 EDT

Michelle sent around a great email today that I'm adapting here, reminding everyone that quite a few people from the Next New Networks team have panels up for voting in the SXSW '09 panel picker. We'd love if you'd take a minute to vote and help get their panels chosen for next year's show.

It only takes a moment to register, and then you can click the little stars to rate the panels you like. You can also comment on each panel, which also makes a difference. Direct links to ours below:

BEN RELLES
When Online Video Crosses Over to Mainstream Media

TIM SHEY
The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Web Video
Soapbox Spielbergs: Making Hollywood FX on Indie Budgets (featuring Erik Beck, and Rudy from Pulp Secret/Galacticast!)

SARAH SZALAVITZ
Narcissism or Necessity? (The New Economics of Storytelling)
Collabotition: Can Companies Work With Their Competitors?

Finally, FELICIA WILLIAMS (Our favorite editor at YouTube) teamed up with me to propose this panel:
Advertising is Entertaining - Who's Selling Out?

If you look around, there are a lot more sweet panels being offered by friends of NNN who rock (like Zadi Diaz and Tantek Çelik), so be sure to vote for them too.

Toronto explosion: caught on YouTube?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:52:13 EDT

When we heard this weekend about the big propane explosion in Toronto -- which was a terrifying accident, and our hearts go out to the families of the firefighter and worker who died in the explosion -- we wondered about the hundreds of YouTubers that all happened to be there for the YouTube 888 user gathering. And we figured Toronto's a big city, they probably weren't anywhere near it, although I called a friend to check that she was OK.

KevJumba and Sxephil, two popular YouTube vloggers who were there, just posted videos of the explosion as seen from their hotel rooms. It's all very Cloverfield. Check them out here, and let us know what you think: real, or the first big hoax of the YouTube age? (The Montauk Monster doesn't count. And here's a hint.)

KevJumba's video:

Sxephil's:

And speaking of hoaxes, word is today that the Olympics opening ceremony fireworks were faked for TV. Somebody should be fired.

Build your own lightsaber!

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:08 EDT

It's been a little while since we checked in with the gang at Indy Mogul on the blog here, and today Erik and the gang put up one of their best episodes ever. Who doesn't want their own lightsaber? Erik shows you how to build one for under $35, and how to do the cool glowy effect for free while you're at it.

Episode link / YouTube link

This is already a fan favorite, from the comments and ratings coming in. And I can't tell you how fun it is having Jedis running around the office. Stay tuned for Indy Mogul for a special interview with Felicia Day later this week that will keep the Jedi theme going.

Happy birthday, MTV

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:48:25 EDT

As Bill Sobel points out on his blog, MTV turned 27 yesterday. It's safe to say we wouldn't have Next New Networks without MTV, so congratulations to our much bigger, older brother -- or maybe our cool uncle -- the channel that got millions of people like me through adolescence in the 80's and 90's and opened up a window to a much bigger world than the places we were stuck. I think about MTV pretty much every day in this job, as it's hard to overstate what it did to TV.

I've been looking for an excuse to do this anyway for a week or two, so here's the famous first video, Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." If it's incongruous to post a YouTube vid, well, I'm sure most people from MTV, then and now, actually really love YouTube (and I recently discovered, in the Google/YouTube offices in Chelsea, there's a huge photo of MTV's Times Square studios in their main elevator. These two are destined to one day be together). But you can also watch the video on Overdrive if you prefer. They just won't let me embed it, though I'm sure they will soon enough.

Jon Miller, Superstar

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:19:14 EDT

Today we're happy for the deserved acclaim Next New Networks investor / board member and Velocity Interactive Group founding partner Jon Miller is getting with today's profile in the LA Times (with the accompanying photo above).

Here's a bit:

Herb Scannell, CEO of Internet television start-up Next New Networks and former vice-chairman of MTV Networks, calls Miller "one of the smartest guys I have come across in the media world." Geoffrey Sands, who heads McKinsey & Co.'s media and entertainment practice, says Miller thinks several moves ahead of his competitors.

Miller's experience and connections bridge old and new media, arming him with unique and valuable insights, said Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp.

"By any measure, Jon is one of the most astute people about the Internet," Chernin said. "He has really good judgment and a deep intellectual understanding of the Internet. In a world of a lot of flash, he's a guy of real substance."

It's all true. We're really lucky to have him on our team.

Nite Fite: the reviews are in

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:08:24 EDT

In the first week of our new series, Nite Fite, we've had amazing feedback from fans, blogs and the press, as much for the great quality of the show as for the innovative sponsorship model we've undertaken with Digitas and Starburst. To celebrate a great first week and a successful launch, we're having a party tomorrow night at M1-5 with Nite Fite creators Dan Meth and Mark Vitelli as special guests, along with many people from Frederator, Digitas and Next New Networks who all worked so hard to make the show happen. There's a Facebook invite if you'd like to RSVP, or leave a comment here to get the Evite by e-mail.

Here's a roundup of some of the show's coverage so far. Daisy Whitney of TV Week wrote:

[Starburst's] entry into the online video business is one of the first big bets by a name advertiser on independent Web video. It's a signal to the marketplace that shows repurposed from broadcast networks won't command all of the dollars that are flowing into Web video.

AOL's TV Squad called Nite Fite "very funny, and one worth setting a bookmark for." NewTeeVee wrote:

Nite Fite is a fun, well-executed concept you'd want to watch even if candy weren't telling you to do it. Animated dork humor that goes down easy. Sweet tooth optional.

But most importantly to us, all three episodes of Nite Fite so far have an average rating of five stars on both YouTube and the Nite Fite site, and comments are overwhelmingly positive. Nite Fite has already been featured by the editors of YouTube, iTunes, and Yahoo! Video, and by some of our favorite blogs including Drawn! and Cold Hard Flash.

Thanks to everyone who's spread the word and helped us get this series rolling -- we've got a lot of great episodes on the way, and this is just the beginning. Stay tuned to Nite Fite's newly created Twitter feed, Facebook fan page, and blog for more updates, and if you're in NYC, we hope to see you Thursday nite, where we'll premiere some of the show's upcoming episodes.

We're Watching: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:29:47 EDT

If you haven't heard yet about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the new project from Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, and more), it's a new 40+ minute musical in three acts that was produced independently by Whedon's company, Mutant Enemy, and debuted on the web this week for a limited run. You can watch the three parts for free until midnight tomorrow (Sunday) on the website, or buy them in the iTunes store, where they've ruled the TV charts all week.

I won't review the musical here -- that's already been done well by USA Today, NPR, NewTeeVee, Time, Salon, and hundreds of fans over at Whedonesque -- but I'll just say that as a fan of everyone involved, it's even better than I hoped. And it plays great on anything from an iPod to a big screen -- I watched all three acts on my AppleTV and definitely got the kinds of laughs and thrills you want from the best television.

Joss Whedon has possibly the most dedicated and organized fan following online of anyone working in Hollywood right now -- making him a natural person to see if there's a way around the Hollywood system. Take for instance, his movie Serenity, which "only" made around $40 million at the box office (about equal to what the movie cost to make), but also mobilized its fans so well that it opened as the #1 movie in the country and debuted at #1 on Amazon's DVD chart. Buffy and Angel are still going strong on DVD box set sales, Dark Horse's Buffy comics were some of the top-sellers of the last year, and until Fox put the kibosh on it, Buffy: The Musical fan sing-alongs were selling out in theaters all over the country. Not to mention hundreds of fans showed up to support Joss and his colleagues during the WGA strike. That's the kind of cult audience you should be able to build a direct relationship on the Internet with.

The first act went up late Monday night, was immediately slashdotted, and any site associated with the show quickly crashed, with DrHorrible.com clocking over 200,000 hits per hour. With the series available nowhere else but iTunes (and a couple of lower-quality torrents), I'm sure it had plenty of paid downloads and made a good dent in the six-figure budget of the production (Whedon hopes to at least break even). According to Joss's master plan, there will be a pretty cool DVD on the way soon after, and I've gotta imagine fan singalongs in a theater near you and a soundtrack album can't be far behind. The songs are great -- especially "Cannot Believe My Eyes" in Act II.

You might know Felicia Day from the Buffy series or, more recently, the great new internet show The Guild, which she created and launched this past year and scooped up a raft of awards and accolades, not to mention lots of fans here at Next New Networks. She costars with the incredibly great Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, but the real thrill is watching Felicia in it because she's now one of us, and realizing that she's helping make Harris and Fillion and Whedon and every person involved in the production one of us, too.

Enough already -- make some popcorn, watch the show, and see what Internet TV can be. With both this and Nite Fite debuting to lots of fan love, I'm starting to wonder if I'll even have a cable subscription in a year.

The Fite Starts Tonite!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:56:53 EDT

If you watch any of our networks you've probably seen the promos for NITE FITE, our new series, which went live today, and will be available across our entire super-distribution network. The team here's also put together a great new website for you to join the fite. Here's the first episode, Sell Out:

NITE FITE is the first animated talk show on the web -- an original animated series from Dan Meth and Mark Vitelli. Nite Fite's hosts, Penalty and Lloyd, promise non-stop hard talk (and intensity!) every week. The initial run is for 20 episodes, through November, with a sponsorship from Starburst. We're really excited to have them on board -- and as of this week, you can sneak preview the first three episodes of the series at Starburst's brand new website. Just look for the link for NITE FITE on the main menu, after the introduction.

Co-creator Dan Meth recently finished his initial run of The Meth Minute 39 on Channel Frederator, which was a massive success, with over 20 million views over 39 weekly episodes, and we're really excited to work with him and Mark on the new series. The series is actually a spin-off, based on Meth Minute 39's fifth episode.

We hope you'll check out the show today at your favorite video destination, and if you like it, please rate it, favorite, subscribe and tell your friends! We'll have new episodes every Thursday nite at 11pm.

After the jump: watch a video of Dan Meth launching Nite Fite this morning.

update: after a couple days, the series is off to an amazing start with 5-star ratings on average everywhere we publish it, and lots of people using our "I'm with Penalty / I'm with Lloyd" tool. I knew it was good, but the fans seem to think it's really, really good. Let's spread the word!

They Fite at Nite (NITE FITE PROMO) (YT)

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Why tumblr?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:02:28 EDT

I've been blogging less lately, but tumblring more. Or, I guess more accurately, tumblogging more. You can check out my tumblog here to see if you care or not.

Why tumblr? I'm not sure that I could tell you exactly (sorry, I know my title implied I'd know the answer). Yes, it was started by one of our great friends and former interns, and yes, I'm an invester and board member. But that's not really it, because tumblr's been around for over a year and I just started last week. Yes, it's easier. Sure, it's allows you to virtually hang out with your friends and their friends in a simple way. And, for certain, it lets you find a lot of cool stuff --art, songs, writing-- you really didn't think you needed anyway, but are happy to have.

(Here's a much smarter analysis than mine, for those so inclined.)

Bottom line? All I can tell you is that I'm having lots of fun with my tumblr. And who doesn't want to have more fun?

The Tao of Micki

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:31:02 EDT

Micki Krimmel with the team. Photo by Pulp Secret's Charles Schneider.

The one and only Micki Krimmel was recently visiting New York for the first time in years, and we asked her to come and do a workshop with our team about building better community features for our audiences.

Besides being the only person I know of who has a photo of herself with Al Gore up on Flickr, Micki has been a web guru to countless people in her work at Participant (where she helped Mr. Gore build the massive grassroots movement at climatecrisis.net), Revver, WorldChanging, and most recently as a social media consultant and entrepreneur.

Out of our two hour brainstorming session about our networks and shows came a number of suggestions that would be great for anyone building an offering around video content on the web:

1. Everybody should be a community manager.

It doesn't matter if there's a person in your company with a title of community manager, or director of community. Every person on the team should be involved and responding and keeping the conversation going.*

*Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everybody, is required reading for anyone in our space.

2. Whuffi can be more valuable than money.

Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom describes a future where all material needs are met, so people are incentivized by reputation and social capital - Whuffi. This is something that happens in communities all the time -- people can often get things done by virtue of their social reputation or prestige that money can't. Tara Hunt's new book is all about it. [Micki added on her blog: "My point here was about incentives. It's common for people to want to provide material incentives to people for participating in their community. People don't talk to each other for prizes. They do it for other, more personal reasons. They do it for social capital, for whuffie, or as Clay Shirky says in Here Comes Everybody, Love."]

3. The most scalable way to respond to people is openly and publicly.

Micki cited tools like Get Satisfaction as a way to respond to customer questions in a public, easy to access way, as well as elements in our networks like Indy Mogul and ThreadBanger that turn responses to viewer questions into content for the whole audience.

4. Consider ending every video with a question.

This is pretty self-explanatory, but a simple way to get audience responses that not enough video creators do. Ze Frank did it brilliantly. We recently ended our breakout Ultra Kawaii hit (2mm+ views), "Animal Idol", with a question that's garnered over 30,000 comments and counting across the web (according to TubeMogul, we're still averaging over 750 comments a day on that episode, despite it being up for two months).

5. The easier you make it to participate, the more people will.

It's easier to favorite or digg something than rate something, easier to rate something than comment or review -- which is consistently why less people do each of those things. You could follow a question (see #4) with a simple thumbs up/thumbs down polling widget. Our new Nite Fite site is going to include a simple tool to poll people during and after every episode, and it's going to be interesting to see if people use it more than they use comments.

6. People put something on their blogs because it says something about them, not because they want to promote a product they like.

Think about that one for a while.

7. The difference between your YouTube channel and your site is often like the difference between a public and a private space.

We talked about this for a while: for instance, how comments on a YouTube video tend to be about the creators, where comments on your own site tend more to be addressed to the creators. The difference between one place and the other can be like the difference between watching a movie in the movie theater with a bunch of strangers, and watching it at home with a group of your friends.

8. Don't just reward the top participators.

Having all kinds of participation is valuable. Look for ways to welcome the newest people who post for the first time or join the community.

9. If you don't have the tool, that doesn't mean don't do it.

Engage people with whatever tools you have. A great example from our own world is the Indy Mogul "Request an Effect" page, which addresses rule #3 above with a pretty basic tool: a blog post with a super long comments thread. However, with over 1000 comments page has gotten so hard to use, we're probably not getting as much participation as we could (see rule #5) -- if we replaced this page with a browsable, searchable forum of some kind where people could vote on favorites, it would get even more use.

10. Don't worry about exclusive content for your site.

Content goes where it wants. What's exclusive about your site is the community experience you offer -- it can be a safe place, where you can get to know people with common interests. Making that the best experience possible is the real key to building unique value in your site.

Thanks, Micki! So I'm curious -- anyone reading out there: useful? What would you add to Micki's advice?

Happy birthday, USA

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:25:16 EDT

What better way to celebrate than with a brand new Muppets video on the web?

Hope everyone's chilling and having a nice break today.

Justin and Gary's Internet Adventure

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:09:34 EDT

As Allen Stern noted on his blog, earlier this week The Media Kitchen held the Digital Media Venture Conference, introducing their clients to innovative VC-funded startups that are changing the media plans of tomorrow. The Media Kitchen's Darren Herman approached us about helping them create an icebreaker video to kick off the spirit of the day, and we jumped at the chance to work with them on it, as Darren and The Media Kitchen have been big supporters and cheerleaders of our work.

After a bit of brainstorming with Darren and MK's president, Barry Lowenthal, we came up with the video embedded above (here's an HD version), featuring Gary, Indy Mogul's incomparable puppet co-host (mostly because he'd be available for all the shoots) in a whirlwind tour of some of the better-known companies in Silicon Alley. All glory due to the amazing Justin Johnson, NNN's superstar associate producer and first hire, who wrote, directed and produced the piece in a couple days' time with no budget and a supplemental crew of one, which to me is just incredible.

Special thanks to Barry, Darren and Nicole DelVecchio from The Media Kitchen, David and Marco from Tumblr, Richard Blakeley from Gawker Media, Jake and Amir from CollegeHumor, Erik Beck, Derek D, Rob Czar and Corinne Leigh from Next New Networks, and Lindsay Campbell and Julie Alexandria from CBS Interactive for being such good sports, and to all the other people from NNN and Frederator who helped out as Rock Band partygoers or Gary stand-ins (especially Ben Ross). And special props to Kyle Fassenella, who DP'd and contributed all the amazing steadicam work; Rachel Garcia, for coming up with the idea to have Gary be the star; and Liam Collins, our super-nice VP of Finance and Business Affairs, for playing against type as the jerk who tells Erik to get back to work.

Remembering Steve Wolkoff

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:48:49 EDT

In publishing the last blog post, we learned that our colleague Steve Wolkoff at FreeWheel died yesterday in an accident involving a drunk driver. We'd only just met Steve, who had been to our office a few times while working on a new project together, and we hadn't gotten to know him nearly well enough, but we already had a sense of what the outpouring of comments on his blog are showing: the love and respect he's won over the years for being smart, funny, even-keeled, and a pleasure to spend time with. Our hearts go out to Steve's family and friends and to everyone at FreeWheel for their loss -- he will be greatly missed. Information on Steve's funeral ceremony and a place to read and post comments are available on his blog.

TubeMogul: Next New Networks is #1

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:27:11 EDT

We got a nice shot in the arm this week when TubeMogul published their first monthly list of the Top 40 publishers using TubeMogul, which put Next New Networks at #1 among great company like Tornante / Vuguru (#5), MyDamnChannel (#9), Ford Models (#10), CBS Interactive (#11) and HBO (#12). TubeMogul's list ranks the performance in viewership of videos uploaded using TubeMogul's service to super-distribute their content to various participating sites including YouTube, Veoh, Blip.tv, Yahoo, and many others. I'm sure it rewards prodigiousness of output, and certainly the performance of independent producers like Chris Pirillo (#2), iJustine (#7), Nalts (#8), and Rocketboom (#12) are testament to that fact -- they're giving new media companies like us and Tornante and major labels as big as CBS, Warner Brothers (#33), FOX (#34) and Sony (#40) a run for their money with a fraction of the investment.

Today, we also announced that we've added three new partnership deals with Yahoo!, Hulu, and Metacafe, making us the leading superdistribution network on the web, with over twenty signed partnership deals (the release includes a nice quote from Brett Wilson at TubeMogul about us having "risen to the top"). It'll be fun to see how our stuff does on Hulu, where SNL and Family Guy clips are popular, which bodes well for some of our original stuff on Barely Political and Channel Frederator. I recently was on a panel at OMMA with Hulu's Kevin McGurn and a few others and liked how he talked how they curate and program the site -- it was hard not to spill the news we'd be partnering with them right there. And we already have had a few breakout hit episodes and a growing monthly audience on Metacafe and Yahoo, where we've been experimenting with distributing for a while -- it'll be exciting to be able to build sponsorship and advertising programs that can incorporate those audiences.

It'll be interesting to see what the next year holds for superdistribution. We've already learned that it's not enough just to put your content everywhere with syndication and distribution tools like TubeMogul and Blip.tv. There's a lot more that we do, with the support of our partners: following all kinds of metrics, from video views to commenting and favoring to the ratio of on-site vs. off-site (e.g. embedded player) viewership; building editorial relationships with our partners; doing a lot of outreach to viewers, bloggers, and media to try to build repeat viewership and subscriptions. We've also pursued relationships with more specific destinations where our networks' viewers might be, for example, Streetfire with our automotive networks, and Craft, Etsy and Threadless with ThreadBanger.

The next step, of course, is developing sponsorship and advertising models that put the power of the superdistribution network to good use. One sponsor that's already along for the ride is Janome, which recently began a six month sponsorship of ThreadBanger, and who sees their sponsor integration ride across ThreadBanger's many points of viewership across the web, from our website, iTunes and YouTube to our latest partners, with each one that we add increasing the value of their investment in us. We plan to have a lot more good news to share on similar fronts in the coming months.