The Future of online TV is… Advertising
How these companies are similar… and different
ManiaTV.com and FORA.tv are going after two completely different demographics but, their approaches are similar. Both have websites that are well designed for their different audiences. ManiaTV.com's homepage has (as I write this) "Rappers D-Lite," "JerseyGirlTV," "SkitzTV," "Takin It Back" and an autoloading video.
FORA.tv's homepage has (as I write this) General Peter Place, State of the World 2007, Neil Gaiman and Steve Wozniak. Nothing autoloads. Their color choices, what's above and below the fold, font size, menu placement and choices... each uses similar elements to capture the greatest mindshare of who they want on their site.
These are examples of designing to select the visitor. Both are nicely done.
Both sites rely on social networking concepts to get their word out, and each demonstrates those concepts differently; ManiaTV wants every kid in the world to have their own TV channel. FORA.tv wants every person in the world to take part in the discourse provided by their site. Both sites are using a, "You have to be this tall to get on this ride" philosophy. ManiaTV's is age based.
FORA.tv's is intellectually based. "We want 15 year olds in the middle of Kansas who are interested in public debate to have a place they can get it," according to FORA.tv's Gruber, who makes their tool set available to anyone interested in providing quality, socially-oriented content. "Our research shows that 20 percent of the American public is interested in this material in any given month. Even if the real numbers are five to eight percent, that's still a huge audience," Gruber said.
Social networking tools drive FORA.tv's awareness because "Humans have been storytellers for millions of years. The opportunity we're presenting is to take the smartest people on the planet where people can interact with them where they want, when they want."
Both companies have attracted recognizable names to their boards. ManiaTV's include David Verklin, CEO of Carat, and Bob Kagel, CEO of Benchmark Capitol. FORA.tv's include William R. Hearst III, a director of the Hearst Corporation and Hearst-Argyle television.
The future is advertising
The companies also agree that advertising is in their future. FORA.tv isn't seeking advertising dollars yet because they're building their user base. There are plans to actively solicit sponsors for program series, features and genres. ManiaTV.com is more proactive regarding advertising because their content is free to anyone on the net. Other points of agreement include
- Aggressively going after their respective markets
- Allowing content-providers easy access to their tool sets
- Making all content free
- Allowing users to create their own channels
And that's the way it… will be
The future of television as we know it is no longer television as we know it. At least not as I've known it. Content providers such as ManiaTV.com and FORA.tv are providing quality video with high production values specifically engineered for high-speed, high volume access. This content can reach your cell phone, PDA, MPEG-player, desktop, laptop or beyond. Anybody who wants to get in the game can do so.
It's that last part, "anybody who wants to get in the game can do so," that is going to make monumental shifts in the advertising market.
When interviewed on whether or not Super Bowl advertising was going to shift from offline to on, I offered that everyone being able to broadcast their own Tailgate party was going to create micro-brands. Smart companies are going to be reviewing a tremendous amount of content and making decisions about who the next internet "stars" are going to be, then contacting them in order to cross-brand known products with "Joey's TailGate Party!"
This is glib, I know, but the concept works for both ManiaTV.com and FORA.tv.
Commercial TV isn't going away. It's just going to different screens. Not necessarily smaller, flatter or wider, but definitely different. Advertisers may be well advised to follow the content. Money will be sure to follow.
Additional resources:
18 Experts Share Their Bowl Predictions (and I'm one of them!)
Can YouTube make revenue sharing work?
FORA.tv
ManiaTV.com
NextStage CRO Joseph Carrabis' political interviews
Joseph Carrabis is CRO and founder of NextStage Evolution and NextStage Global, and founder of KnowledgeNH and NH Business Development Network. He is also author of the Biz Media Science blog. Read full bio.