Valleywag: NextNewNetworks

NextNewNetworks now supplying Julia Allison with better lighting

Melissa Gira Grant — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:20:00 PDT

OMG you guys gadgets and girls and hey it's the rich girl from Los Gatos and her iPhone and her friends and one is Julia Allison! Julia Allison you guys! Who is totally not the point of this story, because wow NextNewNetworks is really producing this?

NextNewNetworks, an online-video startup better known for nerdy boy animated series and the comely political satire of Obama Girl, has been trying to break into the girly dating bracket for some time. The result: Allison's TMI Weekly. Tim Shey, NextNew's head of entertainment programming, told the Los Angeles Times:

We see it as an underserved community — young women who aren’t really reached by television. They’re watching a lot of YouTube. They care about style, tech, iPhones — how do they balance their career, their life and their relationship?

But the real draw here isn't women's "underserved" needs. It's watching these women — the Julia Allison Girl Army. They froth as sincerely as they can, but they're still doling out the same television-ready advice. Is anyone really watching for iPhone app recommendations? There'd be no show here at all if there weren't already an audience of women and men just waiting to see what mess Julia makes next. After this show inevitably flops, will NextNew adopt Allison's soon-to-be-rejected reality show, The IT Girls, and run that instead? There's a reason that Allison and friends haven't made it even onto cable yet — TMI Weekly is an apt showcase for the extreme dislikeability which will keep them sequestered to a third-rate online-video startup. But that doesn't matter for Shey and company: They can safely sit back, flip the switch, and collect.

Tech's most awkward prank: the singing telegram

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Why do so many people in tech deliver singing telegrams? Because they're so painful. My colleague Jackson West ventured this explanation: "Tech people are uncomfortable enough in the real world — raising the discomfort level and then blogging it for laffs provides a tail-eating narcissistic kick." Plus, it's a passive-aggressive sadism that can be documented in video and posted online. In the clips below, watch singing telegrams get delivered to prominent New York VC Fred Wilson, Yahoo ad exec Mike Walrath, and NextNewNetworks cofounder Timothy Shea. Watch and feel the heat rising on the back of your neck.

Victim: NextNewNetworks cofounder Timothy Shea

Victim: Yahoo ad exec Mike Walrath

Victim: Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson

NextNewNetworks needs a CEO

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:20:00 PDT

Sometimes the best way to demote someone is to promote them out of harm's way. And so after $23 million in funding and not nearly so much in revenues, NextNewNetworks cofounder and CEO Herb Scannell says he's met with his board and decided to take on a role as chairman of the company. That means the online video production firm — probably best known for its acquired property, "Obama Girl" creators BarelyPolitical — needs a CEO. Again, revenues might help, too, but after sampling the the company's latest above, we don't recommend holding your breath.

Revision3 picks up Epic Fu after departure from NextNewNetworks

Jackson West — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:30:00 PDT

Announced at the Diggnation Live event in New York City tonight is the addition of Epic Fu, previously known as Jetset, to the Revision3 lineup. The pioneering online video show, founded by Steve Woolf and Zadi Diaz of Smashface Productions, was an independent production — the show had been on hiatus for months while the team was working to develop it into a daily network or cable skein.

New York-based NNN and Los Angeles-based Smashface had publicly announced the split just last Friday. In light of the breakup, the Smashface team travelling to New York to make the announcement is an curious move. A new episode of Epic Fu is planned for release tomorrow.

Master Lodwick has trained his young padawan well in the ways of the fameball

Jackson West — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Spotted at the MashBash in New York City on Saturday, CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy with Tumblr founder David Karp and Michelle DeForest of NextNewNetorks. Karp and McCarthy are officially an item we understand, which warms our geeky hearts. Can you suggest a better caption? Do so in the comments, and the winning one will become the new headline on this post. Friday's winner, in a close one: rwe112, for "Now it's time on Sprockets when we dance." (Photo by Leora Zellman)

Brooke Hammerling, online-video PR rep, weighs in on online-video audience debate

Jackson West — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:00:00 PDT

BrewPR's snacky flack Brooke Hammerling penned a guest column for Silicon Alley Insider, arguing that the Web video industry needs to come up with a strict viewership metric. Though she doesn't mention it in the piece, New York-based online-video startup NextNewNetworks is a Brew client. (It's disclosed, in tiny type, at the end.) We could ask why Henry Blodget is giving a self-interested company rep a soapbox, or why they couldn't fix the red eye in Hammerling's photo. But the real question is why Hammerling suddenly cares about online video analytics.

Could it possibly be because she's not happy with the numbers that ComScore is reporting for her client — or, worse, the numbers NextNewNetworks is asking her to pitch? I'd like to point out the Association for Downloadable Media is giving a presentation on video advertising standards tomorrow at Ad:tech. Maybe Hammerling should give them her support instead of taking passive-aggressive stabs at companies working in the space. That seems easier.

Rickroll delivered via singing telegram

Jackson West — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:40:17 PDT

Game, set and match goes to Rocketboom producer Kenyatta Cheese: He paid to send a singing-telegram messenger to deliver Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," live, to NextNewNetworks cofounder Timothy Shea. Rickrolling, a common online prank, normally involves tricking someone into following a link to the Astley video. Cheese's reward? A "/golfclap" — a petty form of nonpraise used online — also delivered live, from Shea. And what have these far-seeing pioneers of a brave new medium proved? That Internet video can be used to provoke real-world action that results in yet more Internet video.