Office Pirates may have sunk, but media conglomerate Time Warner hasn’t given up on online humor. Time Warner-owned Turner Broadcasting said Monday that it plans to launch a broadband channel in January that will offer a mix of short-form comedy videos and social networking tools.
The free, ad-supported broadband channel, called Super Deluxe, will target men 18-24 with live-action and animated content that will be heavy on gross-out, scatological humor that tends to resonate with a post-collegiate, male audience. The site will also let users build profiles, post videos, and converse with each other.
Super Deluxe is Time Warner’s latest attempt to establish a purely digital brand. In August, Time Warner shuttered its first attempt, Office Pirates, a humor site that targeted a post-collegiate audience with a mix of blog entries and videos. Office Pirates drew 450,000 unique visitors in August, compared with 360,000 in July, and 150,000 in May, but Time Warner felt the brand could not compete with rival sites like Heavy and CollegeHumor.com.
The latest effort, however, differs from Office Pirates by relying on user-generated content, rather than staff-created gags. Turner Broadcasting aims to make Super Deluxe a place where professional and aspiring comics alike can build a following by uploading their material to the Internet. Professional comics will be able to build customized areas on Super Deluxe to promote videos and live appearances. An editorial team will vet all user-generated content to ensure that it does not violate copyright laws and is not offensive.
Unlike the “wild and wooly” environment of user-generated video sites like YouTube that cater to a general audience, Super Deluxe will offer comedy fans a place on the web that is dedicated solely to humor, said Drew Reifenberger, senior vice president and general manager of Super Deluxe. Also, the channel’s connection to Turner Broadcasting will attract content creators who are looking to be discovered.
Advertising on Super Deluxe will include banner ads, and short video ads that will run before and after comedy videos on the site. Users will also be able to become “friends” with advertisers and in exchange, receive special offers on DVDs, or previews of movie trailers, said Mr. Reifenberger.
Super Deluxe-branded content will also be available via multiple digital outlets. Time Warner is in talks with digital media distributors to make Super Deluxe content available via cable TV Video-On-Demand, mobile phones, handheld media devices, and video game consoles.
The network will also allow users to embed videos from the site onto personal web pages, including MySpace and other social networking site profiles.
Contact the writer: AWeinstein@redherring.com
del.icio.us
Digg this
Slash it