The Guardian
trending topics
Close Box

Our news

Yes, it’s true: We are joining GigaOM...


Online Video Provider ManiaTV Relaunches Without User-Gen

  • Comments Comments (View)
  • Text Size: A A

When online video site ManiaTV started out three years ago, it positioned itself as an aggregator of professional content. Then, with the rise of YouTube, the Denver, Colorado company, which raised $17 million in funding within a year of operating, jumped on the user-generated content bandwagon. Now, after finding that 80 percent of its viewers had been gravitating to the professional-based content, ManiaTV tells BusinessWeek that it’s getting back to its original model and will no longer traffic in UGC. So this week, when the channel relaunches, the 3,000 user videos it houses will disappear from the site. Rather than attempt to compete with Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) video sharing site, Peter Hoskins, the CEO of ManiaTV who took over from founder Drew Massey last year, encourages his site’s amateur videographers to find a new home for their works on YouTube.

SEE ALSO: Mania TV Gets $12 Million Funding

The decision to jettison UGC wasn’t difficult for the company. Aside from viewers’ overwhelming attraction to professional video works versus UGC, ManiaTV’s advertisers were apparently always wary of the varying quality and unpredictable safety of appearing alongside videos uploaded by viewers. Meanwhile, marketers like chewing gum company Wrigley has actively partnered with ManiaTV on crafting branded content. Additionally, ManiaTV has produced actual commercials for marketers as well.

Oct 22, 2007 3:51 PM ET

Posted In: Social Media, Video, Technologies / Formats, Broadband, Companies, Google, YouTube

(Page 1 of 1)


The Bestsellers

From iTunes and YouTube to Facebook and Kindle, the most popular content on the web, free and paid.

iTunes Movies iTunes Movies
1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -…
2. Drive
3. In Time
4. Moneyball
5. 50/50
See The Other Bestsellers »

Jobs RSS Job Listings

Social Standing

Which media brands are getting a lift from Tweeters and bloggers right now -- and which are getting panned?

"Sentiment" Scores for All the Companies »

Sponsors

Staff