Do people WATCH web shows?

[Blaine]

Santuary started out as a webseries. I remember downloading the first webisode which was about 17 minutes long.

In addition to that, 'Sanctuary' was the first television series in North America to start production using the new RED camera exclusively, capturing images at four times the resolution of a high definition camera. (IMDb Sanctuary Trivia.)

 

[Michele Seidman]

No one can really figure out how to make money on it. Even the networks are not making great returns on web content. Which is why I would say, look into youtube statistics before you put 10k into a project with no real way of getting an ROI.

Those popular videos get that way because of view inflation, which is something that youtube has yet to address making ratings next to impossible to nail down.

Matty

I had heard Google was trying to figure out how to turn YouTube in to a real cash stream. I would love to hear about that report when you locate it.

Even on YouTube there is a ton of controversy with users about inflated views and not only that...seems people now use 'bots' to down rate others videos to try and insure theirs 'seem' to be better.

Some folks here were doing a PodCast series called Port City PD but I think they were giving it away for free. They had millions of hits and all I could think is...even if they only charge $ .25 per view they would have made all their money back and then some. It just seems the web is where everyone is looking for 'free content'.

Last night at a film festival social I over heard several people talking about watching particular web channels to see their favorite TV shows the day after they air to avoid commercials!

Got to wonder what is going to happen all the way across the board now.

 

[TimCollins]

I like "Clark and Michael" which might have been shown on TV but I know it started on the web.

Also, an Australian show, "Wilfred". I know it's shown on IFC now sometimes but I also think that originated as a web series.

But I'm sure there are much too many good ones that go unnoticed... but this site would be a good place to get the word out.. also if you guys are really serious which it sounds like you are, invest in some Facebook advertisements.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

I've produced a few series in the past couple of years - and I can tell you that people definitely do watch series online, but it all depends on what kind of series you're talking about.

Honestly, right now, most of the traffic is on content that most users here would find to be unsexy.
Mainly nonfiction based series - informationally based entertainment (things like cooking shows, DIY stuff, interview based, travel, etc).

In my opinion in order to have a successful online series you need to keep it short, and release on a steady and frequent schedule consistently. I think those are two of the most important things (of course, every project is different, I'm just saying in general).

Anything above 7 minutes an episode is really pushing it.
We found, when looking at engagement data, on various series I used to do that often times our viewers would drop out after the seven minute mark... it really seems to be a ceiling for many people. So to release 11 minute episodes is kind of risky, in my opinion.

The other issue is only having 7 episodes.
That could work - if it's planned as a 7 part series from the beginning, and it's billed and marketed as such - my only question would be, what sort of schedule do you plan on producing and releasing these on?

The web is much more fickle than mainstream media, in my opinion. The attention spans are even shorter and so is the memory.... I think if you wait too long between episodes you're going to have a really hard time getting any sort of real audience behind it.

When we started a second season of one of our shows there was a 5 week break where no new episodes were released and we saw a serious decline in viewship at the start of the second season (which we then were able to build back up). Point is, if we'd been able to go into that secodn season without skipping a beat, I think we would have kept a lot of our original season one viewers.

I'm currenlty working on a new series (which is in my sig) which may not interest a lot of users here as its not narrative in nature - but it was designed specifically for the web. We're keeping epsiodes all under 3 minutes (max), with the average episode around 90 seconds or so. All profanity is being bleeped, and we aren't shooting anything visually offensive (nudity, etc) because we're aware that most of the people who are watching this are probably doing so during the day at work. We started shooting in January, and didn't go live online until the middle of March because we wanted to wait until we had at least 12 episodes in the can. We're releasing two episodes a week, and currently have 17 episodes in reserve (so a roughly 8 week runway before we run out).

Granted - our series it a totally different animal - all I'm saying is that even with releasing two a week we have people who have asked us to release them faster, and more often. So your release schedule is definitely something to keep in mind - set the proper expectations with your audience, and do what you can to keep them engaged between epsiodes. And make certain you can stick to your schedule - the day you miss a release is the day the audience loses faith in the show.

As far as making your budget back - I have to be honest, I have serious doubts that a 7 part action/drama series will make back a budget of 10K or more online. The only way I've seen series turn a profit is off of advertising - and to do that you have to be pulling in a lot of eyeballs. I suppose DVD sales could be a possible option - or repackaging the entire series as a long form feature to be licensed via VOD or broadcast after the fact possibly.

The problem you have as far as advertising potential goes is that 7 episodes isn't much time to build a serious audience - and then even if you do... you have nothing else to engage them with when its over. So even if you can attract an advertiser - what would they advertise on?

I'm not trying to discourage you from doing the series - but I do think you're probably best off thinking of it as a calling card - and a way to build an audience for a future project. I wouldn't approach it as a money making venture.

Just my 3 cents.