Dream a little dream…
Rocketboom is one of the most entertaining vlogs out there… and it’s really paying off for them:
In case you’re wondering, it has occurred to Mr. Baron and Ms. Congdon that they just might be sitting on a gold mine. At a cost of about $20 an episode, they reach an audience that some days is roughly comparable in size to that of, say, CNN’s late, unlamented “Crossfire” political debate show. They have no background in business, but Jeff Jarvis, who tracks developments in technology and culture on his blog, BuzzMachine.com (and who has served as a consultant to The New York Times on Web matters), pointed out to them that they might be able to charge $8,000 for an interactive ad at the end of the show, which would bring in about $2 million annually.
The financial opportunity here has occurred to others, too. TiVo, which can now be used to watch Web video on home television sets, just signed a deal to list Rocketboom in the TiVo directory - making it as easy to record as conventional television programs like “60 Minutes” and “Monday Night Football.” Giving up no creative control, Ms. Congdon and Mr. Baron will get 50 percent of the revenue from ads sold by TiVo to appear before and after their newscast, and their show will gain access to more than 300,000 TV sets connected to those new TiVo boxes. (That won’t include Mr. Baron, though, since he gave up watching television years ago, and doesn’t even own a set. He briefly considered buying one this year, but the thought passed. “I guess I’m going to hold out,” he said.)
Kitkast has certainly not been out as long as Rocketboom, but I certainly hope that it will have the opportunity to grow to become even half as popular. My dream is to start making enough money to do this full time… and if I did make enough money to quit my day job and do this full time I would make 5 episodes/week. I have this sneaking suspicion that if Kitkast were to make a daily video-podcast, the audience would expand exponentially.
So, the question is: how do I get there?
What I would like to do is to start pitching the show to companies. Whether it be for them to broadcast it on their channels, adopt it on TiVo or simply sponsor the production of the show in exchange for advertising. I would also be open to starting a spin-off video-podcast to host another show for a company (porn or non-porn related).
When I was browsing Playboy.com a few weeks ago I came across an interview with porn starlet Jesse Jane. Her responses to the questions were great, but the way the interview was set up was appalling. I believe that I would be able to do a much better job on something like this by acting as host, director and editor… and promoting it as a vlog/video-podcast. So, how do I get Playboy’s attention?
I sent an e-mail to Playboy last month hoping to get the contact details of someone in charge of Playboy sponsorships so that I could either pitch a sponsorship or a video-podcast idea. When I wrote a nice letter with my best diplomatic-writing experience, I got a reply simply saying “We would not be able to sponsor any sex video website.” I was shocked… obviously the person replying had no idea what I was talking about and didn’t bother checking out my show, let alone my web site. There’s no wonder why Playboy is falling behind on the podcasting stage.
(I replied to the e-mail with a kind in-depth clarification, I have not received a reply providing me with the contact details for the person in charge of sponsorships.)
Although I have some marketing ideas I would like to hear any ideas that my readers might have for further promoting Kitkast and making the transition from full time diplomatic secretary to full-time vlogger. I look forward to reading your comments.
December 13th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Keep on trying. I think the big name magazines are a good call. Forget PlayBoy for now! Look at other popular options such as FHM, GQ or Maxmim.