Who wants to build the Next Great Sports Property?

The dirty little secret in the online video business is that almost no one has been able to crack the code when it comes to creating successful, recurring online shows. Yes, there are a few shows with millions of “followers” on YouTube and the occasional mini online celebrity. There are even some shows that have moved on to TV, but these have largely been failures. Essentially there have been no online-only shows that have been sustainable, multimillion-dollar successes.

What about branded video content, you ask? Not faring much better. With this model, you’re essentially trading analog GRPs (gross rating points) for sub-par digital placements. Ask anyone who’s not in the business of selling these shows to name a single show created by a publisher or an ad network on behalf of a brand. You will hear the crickets.

Why? Well, there are many reasons. In short, these shows lack real marketing budgets, massive distribution and access to embedded lead-in/crossover audiences, and the content is often weak or simply made for the sole purpose of extracting ad dollars from advertisers. As many have learned, creating a new show that builds a real audience from scratch is very difficult. Even the best in the TV business fail often in the process of launching a new show.

I believe there is a better path. Instead of creating new concept shows from scratch, why not simply copy the most successful, easily imitable and profitable show concepts in television history?

Let’s start with “SportsCenter.”

The truth is that “SportsCenter” is really two mini shows extended into an hour of television. The first show is a summary of the prior day’s games, scores and key stories. The second show is the “Top Ten Plays.” The only reason this show isn’t available online yet is because most viewers would just skip through to these two segments.

Let’s call our new online version of “Sportscenter,” “SportsNow.” All we’d need is an editor, a voiceover artist, and a video distribution network, and we could easily reach millions of adult males every day. By building this show purely for syndication rather than as a destination in and of itself, we could deliver a massive audience, while using the best of online targeting to reach demographic, daypart and frequency targets. The show would be supported by advertisers — at pennies on the dollar relative to TV — and could recur 365 days a year.

All we need now is the rights to the clips….

by Tod Sacerdoti
Sacerdoti is the CEO and founder of BrightRoll, a branded video advertising network. Under Sacerdoti’s direction, BrightRoll has grown into a premier video advertising network, having served billions of ads on behalf of the world’s leading agencies and their clients and executed campaigns on more than two-thirds of the top 100 online media properties in the U.S.
Courtesy of http://www.mediapost.com