Video-Site Shakeout: ManiaTV Shuttered, Finally; PluggedIn Couldn’t Be Saved By Men In Black

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Video-Site Shakeout: ManiaTV Shuttered, Finally; PluggedIn Couldn’t Be Saved By Men In Black

If by the end of this year about only 95 percent of the independent video sites left at the end of 2008 have shut down, well, the industry would be lucky. Two more casualties this week: After trying a reorg, layoffs and attempting to sell, ManiaTV has shut down operations, according to Mediawek, citing first-hand sources. This despite its stated intention to sell as soon as last week. The staff was informed of the site’s closure on Monday. ManiaTV’s core investors, Comerica Bank, chose to eliminate the company’s line of credit, both as a result of economic crisis and Mania’s own worsening ad business.

Then PluggedIn, an online music video site launched just 11 months ago that had no reason to exist even then, has run out of reasons to continue: It is closing down, according to a report in TC. The site touting HD music videos launched in April last year, with about $2 million in venture funding from Will Smith’s entertainment company, Overbrook Entertainment, and others. The company ran out of money after negotiations for a $2.5 million second round fell through at the last second. The company is currently seeking buyers for its technology and team for a price of around $3 million—its cost until now—but I doubt even that could be achieved. Any decent music destination site, especially from bigger sites like Yahoo, MySpace, MTV or YouTube, will eventually add HD, and competing against them on a sliver of a functionality (which, in PluggIn’s case, it didn’t even own; it was using Move Networks’ HD tech) doesn’t make a company. And now with music labels talking to each other, and Universal and YouTube talking to each other—in both cases, about all kinds of music video sites—well, goodbye to even more such sites.

So yes, the mania’s over in online video, finally…

Rafat Ali

@rafatali Mar 5, 2009 10:53 AM ET

Posted In: Entertainment, Music, Technologies / Formats, Broadband, maniatv, pluggedin

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SPYHEART

I agree with UNCLE-PAULEY.

Oakside

Oh MARC HUSTVEDT…you seem like such a smart guy yet you post a comment about the maniaTV executive team being made up of "solid" people who "seemed to get it." Boy, you couldn't be farther from the truth. Talk to anyone outside of the five rats who went down with the ship and you'll realize that Hoskins is a slime ball liar who surrounded himself with equally slimy yes men and women (which was the only way to avoid having him fire you…march in lock step or be dismissed). Just because Hoskins let you throw a Tubefilter party at the maniaTV studio (which they did not even own) less than two weeks before they tanked does not a good group of people make. The only solid players were all the employees who are now out of work thanks to Hoskins' lies.

UNCLE-PAULEY

I would like to purchase the maniatv chatroom transcripts for research purposes. i would be willing to settle on a price of 20-30 canadian dollars.

David Holbert

Comments are right - content is going to digital delivery, we just don't know how exactly. Cautious bets would go with the moneyed interests - cable operators, major consumer sites. We can be reasonably sure of one thing - anyone that says they know is probably wrong. I want to echo what Jim says - the legal and marketing knowledge that is required to effectively handle content might be classified as esoteric. People who know, know a lot. (I'm not one, but know many.) But, I want to ask a question that seems to be at the core of this - why would substantial numbers of people watch a movie (or something like it) that they have never heard of - regardless of where or how it's exhibited?

Marc Hustvedt

Going to miss maniaTV actually, they had a good grasp on music and gaming series and were just building out comedy. Probably it was just ahead of its time back in 2004 when it went with all live shows. The move to LA (from Denver) was also probably too late in the game after a lot of money had been raised (and spent).

They had a solid team in place over there who really seemed to get it. Peter, Danial, Amy, Stefan, et al. Best of luck to those guys.

Jim

I'm not surprised Mania went under… Their programming stank. Once Tom Green left, there was zero entertainment value left. Lesson learned: hire tv people who know what they're doing.

ChrisM

While I am biased, we are seeing good ad interest in targeted video segment. Also, from a retail perspective, we have been privy to strong sales statistics for e-commerce video. This revolution is just starting, and I believe it is somewhat short sited to suggest it is over. ManiaTV's issue is the cost of producing original programming and targeting the male 18 to 34 audience which a lot of sites launched and targeted.

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

Hey Rafat,

I tend to agree with Frank here, I am not too familiar with either of the companies you list here, but generally speaking, I'd say the excess is gone, which combined with the flight to quality suggest that if you actually apply sound business principles, the business of online video is just now taking off.

Ash

Frank Sinton

Rafat - regarding your commentary: "So yes, the mania’s over in online video, finally…"

The hype is over, but the business side of online video is just getting started.