On Socializing Streaming Content

I have been in love with the idea of online streaming content since 2005. My love affair with entrepreneurship began with a business I called TV Smack. It combined a social platform with streaming TV shows. After a year of research and writing I finally finished a full 30 page business plan with awesome graphs and charts. When I shopped it around to VC's, I don't think many people got the idea. This was before Hulu and when Netflix began streaming content. After rejection after rejection, I put it away and never thought I would revisit it again. 

It wasn't until I was listening to one of my favorite Podcast (TWIST), that my old idea came rushing over me again. When I get cool ideas I start pacing and then I instantly start surfing the net in order to figure out ways to implement them. That very day I bought a domain name and a Ning website. (Side note: I am not a programmer, so I use whatever tool I need to get started. My real vision is nothing like a Ning site, but I need a MVP.) My goal was to build a simple Ning website and fill it with undervalued content. (EX: TV piolits, short run TV series, and old made for TV movies) What I didn't know is that acquiring that content would lead me into a wall of various TV companies Vice Presidents whom have no idea who I should talk to. To be fair I may have reached the wrong people. My content acquisition plan was to Google search VP's and then cold call them. In any case I was back pounding the pavement and again enduring rejection after rejection.


As I was about to send an introduction email. It donned on me that maybe the reason everyone doesn't understand it is that they think of social in terms of networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Path, etc. What I think of when I think of social, I think of social drivers. I know it was a mistake to write a long introduction email and I probably will not get a reply, but I had to express myself. The email was as follows:

It is my belief that online streaming content should be social. Many companies such as Netflix and Hulu have not pursued the social aspects of streaming content. I think their focus on acquiring premium content has blinded them to the opportunities that exist in the social realm. By "Social" I do not mean the traditional since of shoving a bunch of videos into a Facebook like website. Nor am I suggesting user generated content like YouTube. What I am suggesting is a platform that creates social solutions for professional streaming content that use's drivers as catalyst for social engagement. The 3 drivers I have identified are brand, celebrity and nostalgia. The first 2 may seem obvious, but you can go in various directions in driving user engagement. The most obvious direction to go in is to identify the most popular brand or celebrity content (Premium Content) and stream it on your platform. Most content distributors employ this model Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, and the majority of other streaming content distributors. This model in my belief is the wrong way to go. It drives up the cost of popular content and make licensing cost untenable. Also, it does not give you the type of users that drive engagement. What I say is screw the premium content. Give me the long bereft celebrities and brands of yesteryear that small pockets of individuals have heard of. Within these small tranches of users you will find passionate people. These people not only watch the content, but blog about the content, they tell their friends that they should watch the content, they form groups dedicated to that content, and are content evangelist. Unlike premium content evangelist, many of the evangelist of the obscure have more of an incentive to get others on board with what they love, due to the fact that what they love is obscure. I argue that a collection of more obscure content is worth more than a collection of premium content. (With the exception of popular franchises.) Nostalgia lends itself to content discovery. Watching older content takes users back to a time and place. Even if it is content users have not seen before. It is almost as disposable as most premium content, but it has the chance of brand revitalization. Where most premium content falls off a steep cliff after its first 6 months. In summary the old obscure content is cheaper, drives user engagement, and opens up a variety of revenue streams. Telebeast seeks to fill this void within online streaming content. It will change they way the world engages content. I have attached my business plan and notes. I look forward to hearing from you. 

"For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity." Jean Dubuffet

Label me insane.