Demand Media rolled out me.tv today, a new social network around person video sites. You have to have a .tv domain name to create a site on the network, which costs $25/year.
Once you’ve registered a .tv domain name, me.tv provides you with a number of templates to choose from. You can also create an introductory video (via a partnership with VideoEgg), add blog posts, videos from other sites and information about yourself. Me.tv will also be adding advertising optionally to the sites and sharing revenue with the domain owner.
There are a number of example sites up already. See Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt’s me.tv page at Richard.tv (Rosenblatt was the CEO of MySpace just prior to its acquisition by Fox). Carson Daly (MTV, NBC) also has a me.tv site up at CarsonDaly.tv (also pictured below).
Demand’s business goal is to sell more .tv domain names through their domain registrar subsidiary, eNom (and eNom’s many resellers), and to generate revenue from these domains once they are live. From that standpoint this is a good move. It’s less clear that this will become a compelling social network, though, because there is a massive amount of competition. For example, Ning’s new tools for creating social networks on the fly, including video networks, are very good, don’t require users to pay $25/year and they also have advertising with a revenue share. And there are countless other services that let users create their own video channels.
Rosenblatt is a saavy guy, though, and he’s courting the hollywood crowd, not the tech elite. Rumor is that a number of celebrities will be creating me.tv sites in the coming weeks. If A-list celebrities flock to the platform based on Rosenblatt’s connections, perhaps it will get traction.
My guess is that me.tv will eventually launch a free version of the service to get more users on the platform.
Might be a smart move by Demand Media.
Don’t you have to pay a fee to Ning if you want to add Ad’s to your Ning Networks?
Isn’t this what Justin.TV ultimately wants to do (in a roundabout way)?
I do not like the idea of a service that seems to rely 100% on 3rd party companies to serve the video content. They should offer their own video hosting.
Ning is super easy but in browsing the sites they all look very cookie cutter to me right now.
Article in Business2.com explains Rosenblatt’s concept -
Giving the Audience Its Own Domain. The idea is to create portfolio of domains with user generated content and profit from advertising. Rosenblatt sells you domain and gives you platform for content.
Not big news .. nothing but Justin.tv is proof of the .tv domain name.
So it’s a social network for people with more money than sense (see .tv domain registration prices) who are deeply in love with themselves? Think I’ll skip bookmarking that one.
I think this can be a smart move depending on their strategy, but Demand’s a pretty good company. I think they’ll be able to do well with the concept.
When I have allready registered one .tv domain at godaddy can I use they service for free?
this is obviously a lame business, but I do find it interesting that they’ve registered other domains like MattDamon.tv and JayLeno.tv and pointed them to CarsonDaly.tv. Does Carson need the extra press??
What is lame about it ? This is an extra tool provided when you reg a .tv domain at ENOM which offers the lowest prices to reg a .tv $24.99 You can do whatever you want with the domain ME.tv is just an extra bonus.
DotTvNation wrote about the whole relaunch http://www.dottvnation.tv it was informative there is a lot going on with the premiums too
I can’t see this catching on for more than a small niche market. Considering that all the videos on this site are hosted on YouTube, why not just create a free YouTube account? Or use MySpace video and host it for free on MySpace. The average user isn’t going to pay for something they can get for free, and the professional user is not going to settle for anything less than the best (which this is not). It’s a very narrow market they are going after.
“It’s a very narrow market they are going after.”
If you wish it to be, the market is narrow. If you see otherwise, its the phoenix rising from the ashes in .tvs’ second incarnation.
The market is limited only by ones’ imagination and/or creativity. There are more tools and surprises coming as Rosenblatt has repeatedly stated. Like they say - STAY TUNED!!
I do not like the idea of a service that seems to rely 100% on 3rd party companies to serve the video content. They should offer their own video hosting.