The kick off panel I attended this morning featured Dina Kaplan, Dimitry Shapiro, and Robert Petty. There was a great deal of discussion about revenue models, emerging micro media mogul deals, and the future growth of the industry. My thing is this.. it’s great that small TV is emerging as a growth industry, but for who? If content creators don’t see a payday then what’s the point? Oddly it wasn’t until near the end of the panel that highly targeted niche market content plays were discussed. Everybody want’s to tout the ZeFrank and Ninja deals, but let’s face it, they are currently the exception and not the rule…just ask Om Malik.
I think there are viable revenue models that can spring forth from defining core constituencies, measuring their market viablity, discovering their champions, and creating relevant content experiences around them. Here’s a couple that Verge New Media is working on:
