AOL-owned social network Bebo is switching the business model for its original online video content and inviting advertisers to entirely fund their production, instead of putting in money itself. Previously the company had helped fund the production of its web TV series like KateModern, but will now look to sponsors to foot the bill. European MD Kate Burns (pictured) tells C21media.net: “We do not fund the programmes ourselves anymore. They are 100 percent ad-funded. We don’t take the risk, which means that at the commissioning stage we have to ensure those ideas are sellable.” Bebo has launched several online mini-series in the last two years, most famously the Lonelygirl15 spin-off KateModern, which clocked up 35 million views in its first series, and the Sony Pictures TV International-developed Sofia’s Diary. Bebo last year hired Kelly Brett to lead its original productions.
Bebo Originals will still produce content and two more productions are due this year with drama, comedy and thrillers all being pitched, but it’s relying on the ad market to fund it instead of investing its own cash. So the concept has to be watertight commercially, or as Burns puts it, “it’s one thing being synonymous with innovation and it’s another pouring money down the drain, which I think unfortunately a lot of other media owners have done.” Bebo says its original productions so far have been profitable.
And following the site’s official launches across Europe earlier this week, Bebo has now launched in India where it has partnered with fellow Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) company Turner International and REAL, a Hindi TV channel.
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