While surveying the Internet Television landscape in the comedy genre, some patterns emerged. Below is a description of some of the common types of initiatives I found. Of course, in some cases the categories overlap. This is by no means a comprehensive listing either. I do think these cateogies are useful for understanding some of the major trends in the genre. Enjoy!
I. TRADITIONAL MEDIA EMBRACES INTERNET TELEVISION
In the comedy genre, there are several traditional media entities that have initiated a web presence for their brand. Three such iniatives are linked below.
- Comedy Central, cable television network. Comedy Central has done particularly well in crossing over from network television to the Internet. Many of their most popular shows have a strong Internet component. For instance, not only can The Daily Show be watched on ComedyCentral.com, but there are also "Web Only" features that are organized under a "Web Only" tab. I'm particularly fond of this aspect of the site's IA. The scenario goes something like this: So you love The Daily Show? Well there are features that you can't see on Comedy Central available online. So get to our website! This is definitely the way to go when crossing over.
http://www.comedycentral.com/
- The Onion, weekly satirical news publication. The Onion is everyone's favorite humor weekly. They've successfully translated their popular print content to the online realm. The Onion has taken advantage of the media opportunities that the Web allows. Much like its competitors, the media-rich site includes a strong video component. The site also includes regular daily updates. While in the past, the news weekly had contraints due to print deadlines, etc., the web property provides regulars with more timely content.
http://www.theonion.com/content/index
- Cracked, magazine first pubished in 1958. I like the story of this traditional media outlet going online. Cracked magazine was a humor magazine that always came in second to Mad Magazine. And for most of its history, it had readership issues. It was first published in 1958. In the 50 years since, it saw ebbs and flows in its readership. In 2005, however, Cracked.com was launched. Today, it is one of the most popular online humor destinations. This example demonstrates a theme that has come up often in our discussions of network television vs. networked television. In the past, readership had to be large to justify the high costs of producing a magazine. The Internet's relatively low-overhead (especially if we're talking about user-generated content) can cater to a dedicated niche market.
http://www.cracked.com/index.php
II. CHARACTERS DRIVE VIRAL PHENOMENA
- Homestar Runner, flash animation featuring Strong Bad
http://www.homestarrunner.com/
- Ask A Ninja, ninja/actor responds to submitted questions
http://askaninja.com/
- Odd Todd, flash animation chronicles unemployment
http://www.oddtodd.com/
III. PERSONAL PROJECTS GO USER-GENERATED
- Jibjab, from "This Land" animation to user-generated joke database
http://www.jibjab.com/
- ebaum's World, livid plaintiffs, diehard followers
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/
- College Humor, from frat boy repository to dot.com destination
http://www.collegehumor.com/
IV. COMEDY CREATES COMMUNITY
- Super Deluxe, Big Media initiates original broadband programming
http://www.superdeluxe.com/
- Funny or Die, created by Will Ferrell (et. al), popularized by Pearl, "The Landlord"
http://www.funnyordie.com/
A reward for making it to the end of the presentation. This is, by far, the funniest video I saw in all of my visits to comedy websites.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1778958/
