Finding the Elusive Business Model
For online entertainment companies, finding the right business model is as elusive as ever. One camp hopes to use the Internet to market ready-for-television shows or cinematic works, or to broker talent for traditional media. This strategy has worked well for companies like IceBox, Heavy and DotComix, all of which have struck deals to produce content for television (see sidebar).
"We're an entertainment company, not a dot-com," says Simon Assaad, chief executive officer of New York-based Heavy Productions, which hosts the multimedia entertainment site, Heavy.com. The Heavy Half Hour, which breaks all the rules of political correctness, was recently sold to Viacom for syndication and is currently in negotiations with UPN. Another popular Heavy show, Behind the Music That Sucks — a deadpan take on VH1's biographical series which takes vicious, but entertaining, swipes at Garth Brooks, Hanson and Eminem, among others — is also being touted for offline production.
In the same vein, San Francisco-based Dotcomix takes an irreverent view of popular culture. "From our viewpoint, the best thing to do is to create a dynamic property and exploit the hell out of it," says chief executive officer Damon Danielson. Dotcomix features 3D and Flash-animated versions of comics familiar from the newspaper, including Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World and Gary Trudeau's Duke 2000 series. Danielson is a big fan of Tomorrow's work, and the poignancy of his candid voice, but is not easily amused by mere shock value.
"We're about where television was in 1959"
"I think a lot of the material that appears on the Web as edgy, is crap. At some point people are going to have to focus on quality writing," he explains. Danielson sees the potential for a purely Web-based entertainment model, but like Assaad, he would rather play it safe and not put all of his company's eggs in the Internet basket.
Honkworm, which produces animated content for other Web and television properties, started out as a purely online media company, but has taken more of an interest in offline ventures. While Honkworm's Galore acknowledges how difficult it has been for online entertainment destinations to get up and running, she continues to stress the importance of creating shows that will remain viable on the Web.
"We've got our stake in the ground and we're sticking to our mission," Galore says. "There's no doubt in our minds that the Web will be a very big venue for entertainment in the future." Honkworm plans to have three new pilots launched by the end of this year, including the animated story of a true underdog, Dog in a Box with 2 Wheels.
Television circa 1959
Even with the demise of Pseudo and DEN, CampChaos' Cesca remains hopeful for content on the Web. "It's a really interesting time," Cesca says. He makes an analogy to the emergence of television: "I'd say we're about where television was in 1959." If all that is missing is a viable revenue stream, Cesca argues, one needs only to consider the possibilities, including sponsorships and advertising.
Kricfalusi sees product endorsements as a possible revenue source. He talks about Jack Benny's Jello endorsements from the 1950s, and how the audience liked them because they were funny. "Advertisements make the world go 'round," Kricfalusi says. "Someone's going to pay for it all."
And despite the fact that online entertainment still lacks a sure-fire business model, no one can say content online is a bust. The experiment now underway — being conducted by some of the maddest creative minds in the history of animation — has brought out the good, the bad and the just plain weird. And to think, it's only just begun.
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