Repurposing Animation for the Internet
Bruce Springsteen’s complaint about 57 channels and nothing on has long been out of date by a factor of ten or so — and now that figure seems poised to multiply a hundredfold.
Something is on those channels, though. Broadband delivery, Internet downloads and online streaming are supplementing traditional cable and broadcast (remember them?) television. High-speed Internet connections let cable services, web portals and new media entrepreneurs become content providers in their own right.
An assortment of new content is flowing through those pipes, but it’s small in proportion to programming re-purposed from its theatrical and TV origins. And as everyone knows, nothing stands up to repeat re-viewing like animation, even when it’s on a computer screen or a handheld mobile device. The difference is freedom of choice, also known as ‘Video on Demand,’ letting viewers decide what, when, where and how to watch their favorite toons, instead of being limited to broadcast and cable schedules.
The business models supporting these new lines of distribution are still evolving, but seem to be heading in the direction of ad-supported streaming and purchased downloads. It’s still possible to see stuff for free, if only short, streamed promotional clips on a cable channel’s website (such as Cartoon Network’s) for shows airing on the channel itself. While Cartoon Network has yet to offer full-length cartoons, other services have. These uncut toons, running 11 or 22 minutes long — come with commercials attached.
Make that ‘commercial attached.’ For the moment at least, streamed animation is taking it easy on the commercial content. “We treat the advertising model very lightly,” says Mike Skagerlind, Nickelodeon Online’s svp/gm. Last July the channel launched TurboNick, a broadband platform featuring six different choices of programming, all of which (save TEENick) feature cartoons from Nickelodeon’s library. (Two Nick Jr. channels separate from TurboNick — Nick Jr. Parents TV and Nick Jr. Video — also went online.)
“We have chosen to show commercials a minimum of one every five minutes on TurboNick,” Skagerlind explains. “You see your first ad at the end of the first video you watch, then no ads interrupt the programming for at least five minutes. If you’re watching an 11- or 2-minute cartoon, you won’t see your next ad until it ends. That’s a considerably lower frequency of advertising than anywhere else. They’re normal TV commercials, but they’re only served one at a time. On ordinary TV might see five or six back to back.”
Superstars like SpongeBob SquarePants and newcomers like The X’s can be found on TurboNick, along with golden oldies like Aahh!!! Real Monsters on its Nick Rewind channel, as well as programming there simply isn’t room for on cable Nickelodeon.
“Our programming philosophy is a number of different things,” Skagerlind continues. “Sometimes we’re looking to help promote something that’s coming onto the channel. We premiered Catscratch on TurboNick to help kick it off. It’s a terrific way to use the service, but not the only way. We’re also showing things you can’t otherwise see. We have short form cartoons from Nick Australia that haven’t been on Nickelodeon cable, like Very Aggressive Vegetables — veggies that are upset because kids won’t eat them — ‘what’s wrong with us?’ It’s a really great way of offering kids a unique package of stuff that they know and want to see again on their own terms, as well as stuff they’ve never seen before.”
When Adult Swim launched its online ‘Friday Night Fix’ last September, it was staking a claim on the one night denied to it by Cartoon Network. From 11:00 pm to 6:00 am, Adult Swim’s normal cable window, five full-length episodes are available for streaming on its adultswim.com website.
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