Next New Networks goes from TPM to TMI

By 10/06/2008
Next New Networks goes from TPM to TMI

Admit it.  You’ve already seen this…

The attention-shy Julia Allison and her divas-in-crime, Meghan Asha and Mary Rambin (together the girls of NonSociety) premiered the above on their Next New Network last week.  It’s called TMI Weekly.

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The show lives up to our expectations in every way: innocuous girltalk delivered with contrived nonchalance by women you love, or love to hate, and that you already kinda-sorta know.  Self-described as “The View” for the YouTube generation, TMI appeals to modern 20-and-30 something ladies, with sex, tech, and fashion. Seems like a formula for views.

In light of other recent news from Next New Networks – like the departures of Pulp Secret and Veracifier, two networks we liked – I thought this show might represent a strategic shift.  Has the company I have lauded for its experimentation discovered more about the secret sauce of professional video for the web?

I asked Tim Shey, NNN’s Head of Entertainment, what all the churn means…

We decided a while back to focus most of our resources into the hubs of automotive, humor, entertainment, and style programming, based on where we’d had the most success both in viewership and revenue in our first year.  So it’s not a new strategy, but you’ll see more of the results of it as we start to roll out more new shows and networks this fall and winter.  Doesn’t mean we won’t do things in other categories, but it gives us some focus and helps us make smart decisions.

I wouldn’t agree there’s been a lot of churn, though.  We put one show on hiatus (The Stack), and didn’t renew our license on another one (TPMtv), but in that way it’s no different than TV — at any given point we’re going to be introducing new programming, evaluating our current programming, and making decisions as we try to find the right mix.  The only difference is we can experiment a lot more than TV, and support shows for a lot longer if we choose.  We supported both those shows for over a year, but at a certain point you have to focus on other things.

So, not a full-on strategy shift, but indeed the evolution of experimentation that’s helped NNN discover the existing communities that they can best serve.  Content creators should take note.

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