Who needs a TV Network?
December 4th, 2005Arrested Development a show on fox has been axed. As Stefan explains
Getting cancelled is the best possible thing that could have happened to Arrested Development. (Or “put on hiatus” or “cut back episode order” – whatever. It’s cancelled.) No longer shackled by the whim of a fickle network, ?AD? can take advantage of all the technologies now available for video delivery and make more money. The model is just waiting to happen: AD, a pioneer in its style of comedy, should pioneer this, too.
Even though it developed a loyal following here are some thoughts by Steve Safran from Lost Remote on how to take its loyal following and develop it into a community that also can be a successful business model.
Its interesting as Tomi and I talk about the 4C’s in the book Community, Connectivity, Culture (content) and Commerce. I think below is a very good exemplar of that theory as a proposition.
Do get in touch if you would like more information on the 4C’s. Email me at alanm (AT) smlxtralarge (DOT) com
So who needs a network?
Here?s what “Arrested Development” and its producers should do once they are are free of the network shackles and retake ownership:
1). Offer the show online and on VOD every week for free
2). Make it a free video podcast
3). Seed Bittorrent with it.
4). Set up a site that has all the shows right there, along with shorter-form content, ready to watch or download in all formats
5). Have the cast blog – in character. Have them do video blogs and even live webcasts in character, too
6). After each show, have viewers comment and then address their comments. Invite the best commenters to have a guest spot on the show
7). Heck – invite fans to shoot their own fan-fic shows. Celebrate ?AD? as the first open-source sitcom
8). Web contests: ?GET ARRESTED?! ?George Bluth is hiding somewhere on the web. Clues are available both online and at geocaching locations. Find him, and you?ll be on a show – and not just in a cameo role – as the man who caught George!?
9). Find a title sponsor, but for just enough money to make a dent in your budget.
Then comes the money:
?Arrested Development? is already a proven, strong DVD seller. Put out DVDs with all the extra content you?ve created on the web. Don?t wait until after the season is done: put out a month?s worth of shows every four weeks on one DVD.
After four weeks, the video podcast version will cost 99 cents. The VOD version will be 49 cents after the initial month, for the rest of the year. After that, older episodes will be just a quarter.
Invite premium membership on your site for unlimited archival access and free podcast downloads, in addition to direct access via chats with stars. Auction walk-on parts on eBay
It will be a phenomenal success. There is one warning, however: ?Arrested Development? will make so much money that the networks will try to woo it back. Under no circumstances should the show make that mistake
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3 Responses to “Who needs a TV Network?”
By SMLXL on Dec 4, 2005
Who needs a TV network anyway?
Over at the Communities blog an interesting post on how broadcast can truly harness advocacy and utilse technology applied to engagement marketing for a TV show….
By Dustin on Dec 5, 2005
I think a lot of your get casted on AD type of ideas are a little extreme. I’m just as disapointed as anyone else that the show is going to probably disapear, but I’d rather see them go down with dignity than struggle by having to sell parts on ebay.
By alan moore on Dec 9, 2005
I think the point trying to be made is that its a great show so there must be another way for making it all work outside the traditional notions of what a broadcast network does.
I quite liked the auction walk on parts on ebay.
Why not?