Profile: Getback.com Puts the Rhino Model Online

Written by R. Scott Raynovich - Light Reading

Tuesday, March 31. 2009 at 01:00 PM EDT Post a comment

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Getback.com, a retro online media property that blends movies, sound, and pop culture and is targeted at the 35+ demographic, now has more than 2 million users, according to audience measurement firm Quantcast.

The company, which launched last year, claims even more impressive numbers than Quantcast reports. [Ed note: Big surprise, eh?] Fitz Flynn, VP of business development, says the site had 50,000 visitors at launch last September. He says that grew to 800,000 by the end of December.

"We are now over 3.2 million uniques for March," he says.

Getback.com combines various media, including a radio channel, photos, and light entertainment articles about pop culture from days past. It was launched by a handful of veterans from Rhino Records, iFilm, and pop culture media aggregator Shout Factory, which invested in Getback.com. The company has raised about $3 million in funding.

In a sense, the marketing approach is similar to that of Rhino, which repackaged eclectic recording artists to appeal to a certain sensibility.

Garson Foos [ed. note: Not affiliated with the Foo Fighters], the Rhino alum who is now president of Shout Factory and helped get Getback off the ground with an investment, said that looking at a potential model for Internet media involved the idea of taking the packaging and market element of Rhino Records and moving it to an online model.

"The online world is a very different way of thinking than has been in the entertainment business. We based our success [at Rhino] on the packaging the quality of the extras -- box sets with lots of pictures, extra discs, sound quality... That's not the digital world," said Foos in a recent interview with Contentinople. "Where we think we can translate those skills is in creating the experience in entertaining and engaging. Bring the quality from the packaging into the online experience. It could be the editorial style."

Getback.com is doing a similar thing, only instead of producing CD box sets, it's wrapping various media around a Website. CEO Chris Dominguez says the company is focusing on various elements of media pop culture that connect with the 35+ demographic, which might be interested in personalities such as Blondie, Isaiah Thomas, and Jeff Beck, all of whom have been featured on the site this week. I've been diligently searching for Mork and Mindy references, but I've been disappointed with the results.

"The model is very targeted at 35-plus," said Dominguez. "There was a hole in the market, a lot of sites [targeted at] 18 to 24. There wasn't a whole lot of 35-plus. We saw this. Everybody's shopping online. A good part of that demographic is comfortable with social networking. We thought there was a good opportunity."

The Website also has editors culling pop culture elements, music, video clips, and produced features such as "Weird Facts About Nicholas Cage." [Example: He once had a pet octopus.] It's also licensed a lot of content from providers such as Getty Images and Playboy.

Dominguez points out that Getback.com wanted to go beyond just producing journalistic features on pop culture. The site also has lots of multimedia, including photos and music. It's got its own radio station. The company achieved this by striking numerous licensing deals for media content. He says the company should break even by the end of the year.

"The editorial style" approach to content makes sense on the Web. The online music experience is more about discovery than it is just about downloading music. By focusing on a specific audience, Getback.com can go back to large brand advertisers and attract advertising for their specific demographic.

The idea makes sense and the executives have a clear track record, but I found the design and some of the Internet mechanics of the site clunky. Sometimes the links bring up pages that don't line up correctly in the frames. Also, much of the content has a recycled feel to it -- it's clear that the bulk of the content is coming from licensing, rather than original creators. The site could do with a stronger editorial voice.

That being said, Getback.com looks to be off to a pretty good start, in part powered by its deal with Yahoo Music. Even though one can gripe over the design and the consistency of the editorial voice, you can't argue with traffic and business deals, and Getback.com appears to be lining them up.