Learning from maniaTV

Posted by Sean Wang on
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm

When the dotcom boom went bust, it claimed its share of victims. Perhaps this is round 2, and digital media is being tested.

ManiaTV, once considered one of the pioneers in Web/TV convergence,  has been shut down. ManiaTV started in 2004, best known for its shows featuring comedian Tom Green, ran an Ad supported model. Targeting a mostly young male audience, it once had sponsorship from Adidas, Nike, Doritos, Verizon and AT&T.  It has been reported previously that its ad revenue has been drying up. It was shutdown as a direct result of investor pulling out.

It’s not so important that a startup failed. They always do. Today’s economical environment really tests the soundness of business models. Investors are taking a hard look. There will likely be increasing pressure for profitability. The shrinking economy and downsized ad budget is definitely going to create some challenges.

It is not known how wide spread the impact of the current financial turmoil will have on digital media, or traditional media. One thing is for certain, those who survive the storm will come out as real winners.