Revision3's CEO Talks Writers' Strike & Niche Programming

Written by Frank Smith

Wednesday, November 7. 2007 at 02:00 PM EST Post a comment

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While broadcast television shows have begun to go dark because of the writers' strike, which could potentially last until 2008, new media outlets online are wondering what this means for them.

Louderback's Revision3 hosts an array of Internet TV shows that appeal to assorted niche audiences. Like Diggnation from Digg founder Kevin Rose, iFanboy targeted to comic book fans, or Tekzilla. This is the new crop of innovative online programming going after the desirable 18- to 35-year-old demographic. "Our viewers under age of 35 have abandoned traditional media," he says.

Speaking at the Television 2.0 panel at Digital Hollywood last week, Bruce Gersh, SVP biz development at ABC, noted that there are now two different types of TV audiences. "Broadcast watchers are in their early 40s," he said, "while the average broadband viewer is in their 20s. So how do you build a bigger share of people watching our shows?"

It isn't through packaging up Web content and sending it to broadcast television, which is something that Louderback readily admits when discussing Revision3's Web Drifter, a program that examines the "genius kooks" behind offbeat Websites. "I could see packaging it up for TV," he says, "but that would be a stopgap."

There's been little success in bringing Internet niche content to the TV screen. The CW's Online Nation, a user-generated clip show, is the most recent experiment in bridging the gap to be canceled. The problem is misunderstanding what works and what doesn't for specific media.

"What people look for online is much more authentic and for niche audiences," says Louderback. "I'm gonna [take out] my crystal ball and look at the landscape. In five years we'll still have networks deliver content to millions of people." But this content will be programs like the Super Bowl or the Oscars, he asserts. "The networks will use sponsorship and promo time to promote niche videos. The ones that are smart will realize that's what they have [online]."

Revision3 is currently seeing some positive numbers. Diggnation, Louderback says, "was bigger than half the shows on cable" in October. One episode garnered 400,000 views while the average episode brings in around 200,000.

It's unlikely that the writers' strike will send Hollywood writers scrambling for a place online, but that doesn't mean some won't wander over.

Break.com, for example, has begun to solicit submissions from writers, turning the strike into a contest where writers could win a $5,000 prize for the top submission. According to the WGA, digital work constitutes a violation of strike rules, thus potentially closing off another avenue for writers.

"Writers will definitely experiment with the Web," Louderback says. "The great thing about it is you don't need a big infrastructure. If you're a great writer, just write something, get a friend with a camera, put it online, and the audience will react."