7 Tips to Launching a Successful Web Television Series

By 08/21/2008
7 Tips to Launching a Successful Web Television Series
7 Tips to Launching a Successful Web Series

Here at Tubefilter we work closely with web show creators and regularly sit down to discuss what’s working and what isn’t in the web television space. We decided to synthesize some of best tips we’ve gathered from leading creators in order to help you launch a hit web series and build a strong loyal audience. Each of these tips could be a whole post in and of themselves so think of these as starting points for the discussion of a launch strategy. (You do have one, don’t you?) You can get a nifty PDF of the tips here.

1. Build a brand for your show.
Your show should have its own website, logo and artwork that is easily identifiable andconsistent across the web.

2. Start reaching out to bloggers and press early.
Bloggers and press like to break stories, or at least review something before everyone else does. Reaching out before launching will help generate buzz going into your launch.

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3. Upload to a video hosting site with a premium, embeddable player.
Blip.tv, Vimeo, Veoh are excellent choices. You want bloggers, press and fans to be able to embed high-quality versions of the show.

4. Commit to a well-defined schedule of release dates for episodes.
A regular schedule lets viewers and fans know when to expect the next episode. It builds anticipation and trust with your audience. Plus you can get added to the Tubefilter Web TV Schedule.

5. Have several episodes ready to go once you launch.
Don’t just release the pilot and wait to see if it takes off before shooting the series. It often takes several episodes before a show finds its audience. Don’t leave them hanging!

6. Create an RSS feed of your videos.
You want to have m4v files for podcast subscribers like iTunes/AppleTV, Joost and Miro. Having a separate RSS feed of embedded episodes for RSS Readers is also a good idea.

7. Use social media to connect with your audience.
Twitter updates from the show or show characters, Facebook fan pages, producer and cast blogs all help engage your online audience and keep them hooked.

August Hollywood Web Television Meetup We presented these tips last night as part of our Hollywood Web Television Meetup. Special thanks to host Tyler Malin (Secret Fun Time) and to our panelists – Sandeep Parikh (Creator of Atom’s The Legend of Neil) as well as Bob Jensen, Nayla Wren and Steve Graham from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for sharing some terrific insights on creating quality web television. For those that couldn’t make it, stay tuned for more info on next month’s meetup. In the meantime, you can join the Facebook group.

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