Television Model for the Web
One of the main criticisms of online syndication business models is that too much exposure can actually be a bad thing -- diluting one's brand through scattershot distribution, without building an easy-to-remember destination for a particular piece of content. To compensate for this effect, Mondo Media files its content through a variety of distribution states. A first-run series might appear exclusively on one site, such as Entertaindom.com, and then after it has become relatively established, the series would be made more widely available in non-exclusive syndication.
"Basically, economics play into every decision we make [for syndication]," says Kay. "The model is similar to television, just in Internet time frames."
Despite its relative success with syndication, Mondo Media has yet to turn a profit, begging the question: Is a traditional television syndication model the right way to go for online content syndication?
Some say it is. "The Web should be viewed as an enhancement to an offline model," says Emily Meehan, an analyst with The Yankee Group. But most traditional media companies with offline syndication models are taking a calculated wait-and-see approach, waiting to move online until there is a significant competitive advantage, says Meehan. "The traditional media companies want to have as much control of the distribution of their content as possible," she says.
"Consumers value packaging and will pay for services that organize content."
But that doesn't necessarily mean that when they do move online, the media giants will go to Loudeye - or any other company - for content syndication services. Meehan adds that the Disneys and TimeWarners of the world will likely build syndication services in-house.
Of course, most content creators aren't the size of Disney or TimeWarner. Loudeye's Bell estimates that 80 percent of content creators are in the small and medium-size range, and that all could benefit from setting up syndication strategies, either with aggregators or self-syndication products. "Given the nascent state of the rich media syndication market, content owners would get value from a marketplace pre-made for them," says Bell.
Wrap It Up
But while creators wait for some sort of giant content bazaar to be built online, the business of content syndication, itself, will likely become yet another mildly profitable layer in the streaming media industry. Thus, leaving the nagging question: Why aren't consumers flocking to the Web for streaming content?
According to Release 1.0's Werbach, consumers are interested in streaming content; it's just that the content isn't being delivered in convenient and familiar ways. "Consumers value packaging and will pay for services that organize content," says Werbach.
Perhaps, for syndication to be a successful business model, creators need to package content that targets multiple, niche audiences. Then, with the help of syndication products or partnerships, content owners need to figure out the best ways to maximize distribution networks without diluting the impact of their brands.
Because when it comes down to it, "syndication" is a loaded word - it's marketing, product distribution and revenue generation, all rolled up in one. And like with the word "monetize," there are a whole lot of folks in the streaming media industry who aren't too concerned about what the word actually means - they just want to know how to do it.
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