The Sorry State of Sponsored Webisodes

I’ve been doing a lot of research lately into the world of sponsored online television, watching a lot of webisodes of “online TV” series. I am not impressed. Of course, this entire world is one of learning, transition, testing, exploring, but it is not a world that is very interesting, from a viewer’s standpoint at least, for me, currently.

It’s a bit like the wild west at this moment in this world, in that everything goes: there’s a new sheriff in town every week and the gold rush has brought out lots of wild-eyed crazies who are looking to make a fortune. And everyone is talking about everyone else. They are all wondering what works: what lengths will the audience stay for, what content is funny/dramatic/compelling/watchable, what companies will sponsor the material, what do the companies get out of it — what do the creators get out it? Nobody has the answers but at the same time everyone has the answers, because there are a million opinions about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

What I’ve seen so far – of the episodes I’ve watched of web series that are being paid for upfront by a website/channel/aggregator – is pretty dismal. People are bringing traditional TV ideas to the web – or trying to adapt web ideas and make them into traditional TV, but nobody is really doing it right, because that may not be the right way to do things. There’s a ton of material in this wild west and most of it is dreadful.

Now, I’m not talking about all the the avalanche of YouTube one-offs, or the “non-professional” things that are being done in somebody’s living room and then being posted online. I’m talking about the trickle-but-soon-to-be-a-river of material that is being commissioned and paid for by sponsors. They are running out, hiring anybody who’s ever done “commercial” TV, and handing them some cash (anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 for three minute-or-so episodes) and then waiting for the gold/accolades/heat/eyeballs to come pouring in.

But they are, for the most part, not getting gold back for their cash. They are getting some really bad comedy, some really bad drama, some very uncompelling material, and I’m wondering what they are really thinking, as they put this material up on their sites. It must seem as bad to them as it does to me, or I’m really out of it.

Maybe I’ve just had incredible bad luck in finding only the really bad things out there. But I don’t think so. If I’ve missed some great web TV series, I’d love to hear about it. Please prove me wrong here, since I have a vested interest in this world taking off – after all, I’ve done “commercial” TV for years — and I’d love to be one of those wild-eyed crazies who’s making it big in the web TV gold rush!

If you have anything I should see, please let me know…