NNN Cracks the Code for Ad-supported TV on the Internet

(MoneyWatch) 

You remember Obama Girl, of course, star of the ultimate political crush video.

Seen ThreadBanger yet, the DIY hit that features people creating new fashion statements out of their old clothes? (Play video above.)

Okay, do you remember that episode where Sarah Silverman employed the "melting face" technique?

These, and many other online video hits are all part of Next New Networks, which is the leading provider of premium TV content for the Internet. CEO Lance Podell explained to me during our interview yesterday how the company's origin is reflected in its name:

"Our founders have backgrounds in cable TV. Fred Siebert, for example, helped launch MTV, back in the day, when cable was of course the thing that replaced the old network model. But these are also the guys who decided to leave cable, because there had to be a better way, thus Next New Networks (NNN) for establishing interactive TV."

NNN is not about shovelware; rather than re-purposing existing TV programming just to shovel it online, this company creates, purchases, or partners with video producers, directors, and talent to provide original content expressly created for the interactive platforms available via the Internet.

Over the past two years, it has launched 17 separate "networks" of programming (11 are currently active) in four broad categories of programming -- autos, humor, entertainment, and DIY. These include the cartoon network Channel Frederator (home of the popular series "Nite Fite"), Barely Political (the creators of Obama Girl), daily auto news network Fast Lane Daily, DIY filmmaker network Indy Mogul, indie style network ThreadBanger, tech comedy network Barely Digital, TMI Weekly (co-hosted by web celeb Julia Allison), and the cute pet hit, Ultra Kawaii.

The company says that in 2008, it ran successful ad campaigns "with measurable reach for many major brands, including Cotton, Starburst, Unilever, Universal Pictures, Valvoline and Lions Gate Entertainment. The Lions Gate relationship, in promotion of the movie "W.," resulted in over 2 million YouTube views within the first 24 hours..."

A key insight into the company's business philosophy is in fact how it views brand evolution on the Internet. "Our advertising partners realize that in the interactive environment, they share ownership of their brand with the communities that are helping it (the brand) to evolve," said Podell. "It's a two-way dialogue. The company can only connect up the dots when they participate by owning that community experience of how the brand evolves" via sponsorship.

"We try to maintain, a safe, well-lit place for all of that to occur."

Podell said that the company relies on a "superdistribution model" to place its premium, advertiser-backed channels via partnerships with Yahoo, iTunes,YouTube, Hulu, Break, Metacafe, Comcast and Voxant. "Only around ten percent of our traffic comes to our own sites," he said, "and probably another 50 percent goes to YouTube, with rest to the other partner sites."

(BTW, while attempting to locate and navigate around NNN's own websites this morning, I found them somewhat confusing and chaotic, which may be one reason they are not attracting as much traffic as you might expect them to under the distributed content model of Web 2.0. So, IMHO, there's work to be done to improve this part of NNN's online presence.)
The key to NNN's programming philosophy is interactivity. "The community helps shape how the program evolves," Podell explains. "User-generated content is a big part of our model. We will gather it and prouce it and add a host to turn it into the equivalent of a TV show. An example would be Animal Idol, which has animated judges viewing pet videos taken by our community."

Podell says every episode of every program is also turned ointo a Podcast, and that NNN is working with Boxee to optimize its programming for mobile devices, which are rapidly emerging as the platform of choice for consuming video clips.

Seeking programs that "pop the culture," like Obama Girl, NNN has twice featured late-night TV star Jay Leno on its Fast Lane Daily auto program. The company says that it achieved over 300 million views of its online programming in 2008, triple the level in 2007. NNN is privately held in New York City with investors that include Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive.