Made-for-New-Media Content Struggles
With rare exceptions such as Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” last July, which online viewers flocked to see at $1.99 a pop, original online content is still struggling to find a viable business model. Funding is a challenge — one producer likens it to “pulling together the cash for an indie movie” — advertisers are lukewarm, and audiences are elusive.
Most interesting point in the article: A number of producers view original online content primarily as a launching space for new conventional television series, hoping to improve on NBC’s disastrous attempted move-over of web serial “Quarterlife” to the network last year.
For now, budgets are tiny, and many of the players are not household names.
