Like we said last week, ManiaTV’s CEO Peter Hoskins is really eager to get the digital content studio sold as soon as possible — so eager that the compnany has laid off about half its remaining team, according to The Deal. This round of layoffs follows the studio’s staff cuts last October.
Hoskins told The Deal that 15 jobs were cut in this latest round, but it’s not exactly clear how many employees the studio now has left. ManiaTV said it had 50 employees after the October layoffs, and then hired six new sales, business-development and engineering execs to help get back on track. Some of those new hires have since left on their own, but the math still doesn’t add up. Meanwhile, Hoskins has continued to tell media outlets like us that the ad revenues were “absolutely” coming in.
This bums me out because Mania had the right idea, just a little too early. I think they messed up by adding too many shows and not focusing around building a good audience base around what they offered. I wonder if they have a full service editing suite, production equipment and all that.
I can't remember if they were funded. I'm surprised to see such a public effort to sell it and wonder what they have done thus far offline to try.
The only valuable thing on mania is the arcade show. If anyone is going to buy mania they should just let the company bankrupt and pick up arcade show on the cheap.
Trust me — I know as a fact — no revenues since December — NOTHIING!
Hoskins = FAILURE
I agree with the first comment, they are a good company. Hoskins saved it from the mess it was a few years back. I've been a repeat advertiser for some time now so they have been earning revenue from me.
Michelle J. is most likely Amber J. who happens to work at ManiaTV and I guarantee you that Hoskins put her up to this comment. Just the way that he does things. That was his style since I left there over a year ago. The company was doomed then and has always been doomed since the only thing he could do was pass the blame. Wonder how much revenue he was actually responsible for personally bringing in over the years.
I was there for only a few weeks and Hoskins made me very uncomfortable, so I quit. Not sure why he acted like this to me.
Michelle J. if you are truly a media buyer, why would an advertiser buy ads on maniatv if you knew it was a mess? If you did and still bought ads on the site, I am surprised you still have a job.
Michelle J – you have got to be kidding. So you bought media on ManiaTV and were able to see a true return on investment how? Assuming you are a true media buyer, you most likely had a brand to promote and bought many sites yet were able to see sales growth specifically from Mania. WOW! A true internet miracle that was not CPC or CPA based. Hopefully your client will see this and fire you tomorrow.
looks like disgruntled ex-employees found a place to vent. sad. get a life haters.