Wow - Clown Co. Got That $1 billion Valuation (still nameless though)
Michael Arrington
36 comments »
Is ANYONE at NBC or News Corp. embarrassed that they can’t agree on a name, even a working name (or a website), for their new Not-A-YouTube-Killer video joint venture?
It was announced in March to fanfare, and a steady stream of news has been written about it ever since. But no one has a name for it, not even the New York Times which reported today that the joint venture managed to find someone willing to throw $100 million at it for 10% (reports that they were pitching this came out in June). And so we keep referring to it as Clown Co., which is the name Google execs reportedly refer to it as behind closed doors.
But back to the news. Providence Equity Partners, a Rhode Island based private equity firm, put up the $100 million to buy 10% of a company that didn’t exist three months ago. I hope that means a launch is imminent. It would be hard to launch without a name.
A $1bio valuation for a product which hasn’t launched and tested the waters? Like you said, it doesn’t even have a (public) name!
Someone pinch me, and tell me we aren’t in a bubble.
Wow Michael, aren’t you in rapid fire mode today.
Coming to NBC, is their strategy to fully integrate this with their TV lineup? For example ABC has a new show called i-CAUGHT, which airs on Tuesday’s at 9. The website also has been designed to be very YouTube like.
Although they dont bring much to the table in terms of features, the very integration between web and TV programming is very interesting and encouraging.
I posted about them here:
http://abhishek.tiwari.com/200.....ast-night/
Wow that’s nice! $1 billion that is.
Its me 2 service.
So they should call it : Me2ube.com!
If NBC can bring the TV audience to the Web to use their site, it will be worth that valuation - but that type of valuation pre-launch is very 1999.
My wife used to work at NBC and we’ve talked to a few people in Digital there. Everyone is really focused on launching the site right now (and figuring out a name). I am sure they will do everything they can to have this out in time for the Fall lineup.
The most primitive objective for all media is to be seen. When patterns continue to show that more and more people are turning to the web for news, music, and video, this is anything but a bursting bubble.
This is merely old media adapting to modern times. No one is investing in abstract ideas with unproven business models.
With over $100 billion already divided into newspapers, magazines, film, and television, News Corp. has plenty of catching up to do on the internet.
Maybe we should help them with this so tough decision that they have to make. How about VideOholica!
Wow. $1 billion and its not off the ground? Hopefully they demoed some pretty impressive stuff.
Well, let’s see here, an online video site which will have good content …
versus the real Clown Co, Youtube with Star Wars Kid …
I’m sorry but I know where I will spending my time
Michael, have you seen anything like this before, with a company getting such a high valuation without so much as a site? It’s just crazy. The problem that they may have is that they will cram it with ads and have content that no one will want to see. I mean, why watch Heroes reruns on my computer with ads when I can buy the dvd and watch it on my huge LCD tv? Doesn’t make sense, if they want buzz, this is the wrong way to get it.
Didja notice we are actually vaporware in the purest sense?
I can see this being different than YouTube, but how will it be any different than Joost?
I use YouTube primarily for music videos — kind of like a portable music player with video attached. I also use it to watch old shows that are no longer syndicated.
Joost contains shows that are still in syndication, and aren’t chopped and hacked into low quality 8-minute segments.
So again, how will NBC’s billion-dollar vaporware be more successful?
The best name are the easier to remember.ClownCo seems like a easy to remember name. But that might not still well with stakeholder.
For something that does not have a name it is sure worth a good chunk of change. Whatever happen to name recognition ?
~John Doe
Robert,Maybe NB will zap and vaporize the competitors. Anyway, when the big dog compete the consumer only have to gain. Compete baby compete.
Ok, how are they going to do news? I mean we’ve got the Democrat news service (NBC) and the GOP news service (FOX) and we’ve got an election next year. I can just see it now - on election night, every hour on the hour they predict a new winnner - Clinton! no Thompson! no Clinton!
Of course, YouTube will have Ron Paul all the way.
Interesting to see if the other Networks get onboard and include some exclusive programming. Without them I don’t see this being much more than a dynamic bud.tv.
Traditional media has a poor track record of porting traffic to the web. Mtv.com?
Let em play Devil’s advocate for a second here.
Sure, $1 bill is a large amount. But this isn’t your typical start-up. It is backed by NBC and News Corp - 2 heavy weight media giants. And that guarantees that they will get the TV content from these 2 sources. Not a “maybe if we get a deal”, not a “we are in talks”. Guaranteed.
What does this mean? This will be The destination on the web, or The streaming source for shows from these entities. They will not syndicate the freshest and the best shows to other online services.
I don’t know what the revenues for the traditional media market are, but $1 billion doesn’t seem too large in that context.
Now, they do have to execute. But they could easily buy one of the existing start-ups that do video delivery and come up with a simple site that is TV content + delivery technology. Marketing - before and after every show on TV - “Go to Clown Co to see this show”.
If I had $100 mill I would make the play. In my case, there is an If
I would think valuations for Geni and Mahalo are more noteworthy.
they should actually go with the name clownco. embracing the mocking of the web community will give them immediate street cred, likeability and underdog status. they can also then purchase domains like clown.co.uk for added coolness.
anyway, who doesn’t like clowns
http://www.unknownhighway.com/.....56_0_1_0_C
It’s worth a billion easily. There are tons and tons and tons of people who watch plenty of TV on a television and not on YouTube. Those folks neither know, nor care, what YouTube is. They’ll be steered to the Clown site and think it’s the coolest thing ever, and they won’t mind watching ads during last week’s episode of “Scrubs” or whatever because they don’t know an alternative exists. They won’t care what a Torrent is nor what Joost is, etc. They’ll only take a recognizable source (NBC, etc.) that they’ve welcomed in to their homes for years and think it’s so neat that they can now watch TV on their computers.
WORTH. A. BILLION. EASILY.
It’s http://www.BigMediaVideo.com
I own the name they need:
Vspin.com.
Now if they would only call…
or write: brad at clickbrain dot com
Is this the same company as referenced in this Download Squad article from earlier today?
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2.....se-to-you/
If so, the official name for “clown co.” would seem to be didja.com unless I missed something.
@Tom - I see whatchadid there… didja know all along? Or do ya work for didja?
oops sorry… I mean @TODD
Michael,
I think the name of the “new site” or “clown co.” is “myspacetv.com” This is the only name make logical sense to me with the time frame that everything happen including when this news broke, the launching of “myspacetv.com”, the price tags slab on the site of $1 billion, and the traction that the site needs for a quantum leap at launch time.
Ever think that maybe they haven’t published their chosen name yet because they are getting so much free press from not disclosing it? Hmm….
DIDJA.COM - according to download squad article I linked above…can someone debunk? Otherwise - mystery solved.
ok..joke’s on me.. the reference I gave concerning didja.com credits as their source…….wait for it…. TechCrunch! So apparently after some further reading (including older stories on here), there are two services coming out, one of which is didja, and the OTHER is what is being referred to as Clown Co. and remains nameless.
So for anyone paying attention (and that would be only me from the looks of the thread) I’m apologizing to myself for posting a self-referential link to a story from another site that referred to a this site as it’s source…. D’oh!
If they want a easy stupid name name to reference that they can relate to the masses that aren’t internet saavy, didja isn’t the way to go…they should call it something like… thatsgood.tv
oh wait…I own that..ok so maybe they should stick to Clowntube
What’s going on with the sudden burst of dot-boom-type investing? Is there a bad bust coming or is there just far too many gimmicks out there? I mean, all sites are basically making money these days, but what about not developed sites that people are hoping to name? It’s sad that these types of things happen, oh well — Clown, Co. is the perfect name
NBC has been making weak efforts in this space for a while now. Check out http://www.nbbc.com/
Again with the lame jokes my dad would make.
“LOL GOOGLE CALLS IT CLOWNCO! LOL HAR HAR!”
I think they should just name it ‘Clown Co’
Hey, I pitched them “INTV.com” for their JV, but I guess they thought didja was a more suitable online television destination.