TMZ Does it Live

AOL-powered online celebrity gossip rag, TMZ is one of the most successful blogging enterprises ever. Surged by a number of exclusives that the glacial mainstream media was unable to scoop – most notably, Mel Gibson’s Protocols of the Elders of Zion seminar DUI arrest – in three years the site has spun off a successful TV series and become one of the most trafficked destinations on the web.

It appears that as TMZ’s popularity has increased, so has America’s appetite for insider celeb info, so, the site is experimenting with ways to feed the public more cultural junk food. One of those is live streaming.

Andy at Beet.TV reports, “with just a simple video camera, laptop and mobile phone connection, producers and reporters from TMZ are bringing live stories to its online viewers,” including footage of a parking lot where Britney spears was expected and inside the courtroom during

Here’s more from Andy with TMZ General Manager, Alan Citron.

###Such low production costs make this an incredibly easy play for TMZ and I’d expect to see a lot more live cams and surveillance-like coverage pop up on gossip news sites over the next several months. Celebrity-fueled, sensationalized “events” and “non-events” are tailor made for lifecasting and live streaming, and there are people out there who actually watch this stuff.  No doubt the content will be as profitable as it is disturbing.  

For more recent TMZ reporting, check out The Hollywood Reporter‘s interview with managing editor Harvey Levin and see him explain the site’s “importance.”