Going My way
Saban stakes his own video village
While U.S. media execs are still scrounging for a tech acquisition to rival Rupert Murdoch's purchase of MySpace, Haim Saban's ProSiebenSat 1 has put its money on MyVideo, an online video community site serving Europe's German-speaking market.
ProSiebenSat 1 purchased 30% of MyVideo earlier this month with an option to eventually take it over. Rival RTL Television launched its own Clipfish site in June.
Online video communities have been perking the interest of local webs since News Corp. bought MySpace last year, and a recent deal between NBC and YouTube has only reinforced the perceived value of such sites.
"Looking at the success of YouTube in the U.S., for us, as a TV corporation, a video community is a self-evident direction in which to expand our activities," says ProSiebenSat 1 topper Guillaume de Posch. "It allows us to take account of new user habits and offer an interactive platform for content."
Logging about 12 million downloads weekly of the 70,000 videos on offer, MyVideo's viewer numbers would make many a TV programmer green with envy. The site has seen steady growth; between April and August, daily hits soared 560%. About 1,800 new videos are added every day.
MyVideo will retain its own independent brand. But it will also offer ProSiebenSat 1 content while allowing the broadcaster to tap MyVideo technology and harvest some of the user-generated content for its own Web sites. Marketing MyVideo via its SevenOne Interactive division, the broadcaster will also offer ad buyers online video, sponsorship tie-ins and games and sweepstakes via the site.
Broadcasters love synergies, and ProSiebenSat 1 and RTL are eager to exploit them with their casting and reality shows. Applicants of ProSieben's "Popstars" and RTL's "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (Germany's "Pop Idol") will be able to upload videos of themselves directly onto the Internet. RTL is setting up a clip contest on Clipfish as part of its show's pre-selection elimination round.
Major third parties also are getting into the act. Partnering with Clipfish, Sony Pictures Television Intl. has launched its "Sony Young Producers" contest, inviting amateur filmmakers to upload three-minute self-made videos as part of a new TV format. SPTI comedy experts will then present and judge the efforts for a TV show made up of user-generated content.
As for News Corp., the conglom that started the trend, last week it announced its acquisition of German ringtone maker Jamba.
While it's too early to say if broadcasters will soon be jumping all over ringtone companies, News Corp. is already planning to distribute clips from "The Simpsons" via Jamba and is building a link between users of its MySpace and mobile phone customers.
