What my old employer, Current TV, has been doing with its revamped website, Current.com, isn't so different from other social news sites like Digg....oh yeah, except for having a 24 hour cable television network attached to it. The challenge we had with user generated content when I was at Current was that it had to be super compelling in order to broadcast it on television. Creating a 5 minute "pod" or story for television is not something anyone with a camera phone can do. They eventually launched shorter mobile pods, but the longer pieces were key to filling Current's 24/7 programming wheel. This meant that many of the "users" or "viewers" producing Current's ugc programming ended up being pretty skilled indie filmmakers or pro-sumer level hobbiests. When I left, the challenge was to find more ways to engage everyone in the viewer community and give them a shot at being on air. With the new Current News, I think they've done it...and more.
The new Current News takes the top stories voted up by Current.com users, mashes them up with graphics (which they have always been amazing at), highlights who submitted the news and user comments on the news. TechCrunch has a write up here, where they are critical of the robotic female voice that narrates the news - i.e. "The robot voice really needs to go." Personally, I don't mind the voice. I think in some ways it is making fun of who reads the news on TV in real life, with that awful TV cadence I think "really needs to go."
Here's what I'm worried about. Current has been an innovator, but they still haven't figured out how to market themselves...yet. Nobody knows about them unless you remind people it's "the Al Gore network," or unless they work in the media biz. That's a problem, because while they can always say they were first (they were out there before YouTube blew up), they can also be copied by the big guns before they master their marketing challenges. I could easily see this idea on CNN in a matter of months...And while that may be bad for Current, I actually think it's GOOD for the news and for young people's participation and consumption of news. They've actually made it fun.
Posted by anastasia
Comments
Do you know when the first Nielsen ratings for "Current TV" will be available?
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | April 3, 2008 8:53 AM
Hi Eric. I have no idea. Sorry!
Posted by: Anastasia Goodstein | April 3, 2008 1:02 PM
My parents get Current on satellite at their house, and while I enjoy watching it, I have one beef with the way they do things.
Because they run shorter 'pods' the show titles and descriptions don't mean anything. So when I flip through the guide and see a show, "You Made This," or "Global something-or-other," and the description is: World/News. I don't know what I'm in for when I tune in to Current.
Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the stuff they air, but I never know what it's going to be. I think that when people watch TV, they like to know what they're going to get.
Posted by: ZMarker | April 3, 2008 1:20 PM