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For big media companies, the revenue raised by Web shows is “not the kind of money they are used to,” Herb Scannell, a former president of Nickelodeon, said.  Scannell now runs Next New Networks, a collection of niche Web video series. It is perhaps best known for Barely Political, an online channel starring the Obama Girl, a flirty young woman with a professed crush on the presidential candidate. Obama Girl videos now draw at least a million views each, making them an attractive buy for niche advertisers. Still, “we’re not seeing seven-figure deals yet,” Scannell said. “It’s still an emerging market.”

The one thing the industry does not lack is enthusiasm, whether from writers, producers or actors. Webisodes are usually inexpensive to produce, costing a few thousand dollars for an episode. They are usually short, similar in length to a segment of a TV situation comedy. And they are usually distributed widely, from video-sharing sites like YouTube to social networking sites like Bebo.

Strike.TV, a site inspired by the writers’ labor actions, will soon start to unveil shows by dozens of Hollywood writers. Rosario Dawson, one of the first prominent actresses to migrate to the medium, is starring in a new Web series bankrolled by NBC. And Warner Brothers is introducing an online video site, complete with a half-dozen original Web shows, at TheWB.com.

Some companies, independent of the major studios, are also casting themselves as digital studios with ambitious plans for Web production. 60Frames, which finances and distributes Web shows, has plans for 50 original series in the next year and has lined up a batting order of Hollywood names, including the filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, the comedian David Spade and the “Oz” creator Tom Fontana.

“There’s never been an easier moment to get content to an audience,” Brent Weinstein, the chief executive of 60Frames, said. “Everybody is trying to figure out how to turn that into a business.”

Web TV producers struggle to find formula for success - International Herald Tribune

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