Evergreen content performs better over the long term (as part of a long tail), which lends itself more to a media sales monetization strategy.

We do both, in a mix, for sponsors. Since we like to have it both ways, we love timely content with evergreen replay value. Fast Lane Daily’s a great example, as it’s car news that’s still entertaining (and can often become timely again) months or years later. And Indy Mogul can play off big tentpole films (like our Harry Potter rap battle last month) but communicate something pretty evergreen, like how to create a Voldemort makeup effect.

It certainly helped with $99 Music Videos and Indy Mogul that the formats of those networks pair a non-fiction episode (a behind the scenes or how-to) with the fictional short film, as we can do more straightforward sponsor mentions and integrations in one format than another. But we’ve also found creative ways to bring sponsors into the fictional programming — for instance, Nite Fite’s Penalty and Lloyd doing spokescartoon bits for Starburst, or Erik Beck stalking Bobby Miller in a Jason mask for Friday the 13th. And we also sell media around our fictional programming — including IAB-standard ads and rich media, YouTube overlays, pre- and mid- and post-roll video bumpers and ads — fulfilling in some cases millions of media impressions for our advertising partners in a campaign with fiction programming.

For us, it’s more about cost-appropriate and audience-appropriate programming than about fiction and non-fiction. If it’s right for the audience, it will build viewership, and in our experience so far, the advertisers want to be where the viewers are.