The company itself would have to have something to say, not the on-air talent. If there’s no message the portal wants to get across and nothing that they want the public to know about their company, there’s no point. There’s no more “Tecnhorati Buzz”. There’s no more “The 9″. As far as I know, there never WAS a YouTube show.

It also depends on whether the portal is a back-end video host or a destination site. If you’re a destination, you may have some relationship to your community that would cause them to see your show as a credible, reliable curator of what’s worth watching. If there’s no community to speak of, you really can’t count on getting lots of views, other than the views driven to your show by the content creators that you’re showcasing… and those aren’t YOUR fans anyway… they’re THEIR fans.

Anyway, my suggestion to portals that are thinking about making shows is to stay focused on the point they’re trying to get across and leave the entertainment to entertainers.

When we first started Viral, it was a challenge to find quality shows to feature. Fortunately, as time went by, overall production quality improved and now, we have professional content being created specifically for broadband and mobile devices.

Our challenge now is developing a way to discover all this great talent. The internet provides an infinite amount of programming, but what good is that programming if no one can find it? Algorithms and complex mathematical formulas may help in the process, but at the end of the day, we all want a familiar face to help guide the way- and that’s why we created Viral.

It was really fun while it lasted, and I still believe it’s a great formula to helping people discover great internet content. I also encourage other internet companies to consider original programming as a way to connect with their audiences.

We’re definitely on to something here….