TV enters a new universe
Original shows are debuting on the Web, while existing ones find new life in video games and even blogs.
Mike Stickle has been in love with TV ever since Edith Bunker asked Archie to tell her she was "somethin'." These days, the former magazine executive is trying to break into the business, creating a show of his own, tentatively dubbed "Floaters," a comedy about three young women in New York. It launches in May.
But don't look for it on any network. Rather, it will appear on the website phoebeworks.com. And don't expect a "Friends"-style half hour. His will be broken up into eight-minute daily blocks for Internet streaming and smaller two- to three-minute chunks for cellphones or iPods, because, says the neophyte producer, the new generation wants "portable, quick entertainment."
Mr. Stickle is not some cockeyed optimist, hoping that viewers (and money) will simply materialize. He has funding and a business plan based on a documented burgeoning demand for mobile entertainment. More important, he has the cultural edge, making him part of the early stages of a major transition for the broadcasting industry, says Jack MacKenzie of the media research firm Frank Magid Associates. It's being driven by the 80 million-strong demographic currently between the ages of 10 and 28. "Multiple platform distribution will be required by this next generation," says Mr. MacKenzie.
Networks behind hit shows such as "Lost," "24," and "Desperate Housewives" are becoming marketing juggernauts, with multiple products such as video games for cellphones, online diaries, and webisodes for the Internet. But these are all designed to drive viewers back to the mother ship - the on-air TV show. The new technologies are changing that, offering content that is a destination of its own for viewers.
Video-clip websites such as ifilm.com and youtube.com are good examples of what one designer calls the next, inevitable wave in entertainment.
"What these new platforms do best is deliver quick, in-and-out, bite-size entertainment," says Israeli Internet entrepreneur Arik Czerniak. He calls them "media snacks." Mr. Czerniak, the founder of a user-generated website called metacafe.com, says the desire for such fare is not a passing fad. "This is a huge, cultural shift from long pieces of entertainment that people watch on sofas to the quick, what I call 'lean forward,' kind" - content that requires total, if brief, engagement.
People are not only multitasking their work, they are multitasking their entertainment as well. "You have a three-minute break at work, you're near your computer, you want a quick diversion; you pull up a video or two. It's all intertwined," Czerniak says. But because the pace is so constant, he says people also want to get the best material fast. "People are laser focused," he says. "If you only have three minutes, you want to make the best of it."
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