Next New Networks Building Micro Television Networks
Next New Networks is an online media company with big plans for "micro television networks". — The New York based company launched in January with $8 million in funding from Spark Capital. — The team behind the service is impressive.
Context & Ripple Effects
Next New Networks arrives on the record after months of mystery: in December 2006 TechCrunch profiled it as the video startup that may never launch, a stealth operation whose product nobody had seen. By January the question was answered — the New York company launched with a confirmed $8 million round from Spark Capital.
The strategy now on the table is not one video portal but many: 'micro television networks', small branded channels built around narrow interests by a founding team the report describes as unusually experienced for a 2007 startup. For Spark Capital, it is an early, sizable bet that online video's next layer is programming, not aggregation.
First-order effects
- Next New Networks moves from stealth to operating company overnight, with $8 million committed to standing up multiple niche channels rather than a single flagship property.
- Spark Capital's stake makes it the visible backer of a portfolio-of-networks thesis at a moment when most funded online video plays are consumer destinations.
Second-order effects
- Micro networks have no built-in audiences, so each channel needs distribution partners — putting Next New Networks in the market for placement deals with the major video platforms and portals of 2007.
Third-order effects
- If the model works, online video production consolidates around companies that manufacture many small brands under one roof, shifting value from destination sites toward the studios and talent networks that feed whatever platform viewers happen to use.
The trend: Online video is splitting into portfolio studios running families of niche channels, with early-stage capital like Spark's funding the programming layer atop third-party distribution platforms.