Going Mainstream: Youtube and Myspace

After a sleepy summer of big time experiments it looks like this Fall will be the time when all of the R&D goes mainstream.

Mashable:

"In what’s becoming a familiar story, YouTube favorites Joe Bereta and Luke Barats (aka BaratsAndBereta) have signed a comedy deal with NBC. The six-figure contract will enable the pair to develop low-cost sitcoms and sketches.

But as we saw with the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, TV contracts aren’t the only way to monetize popular clips - shows can go it alone by joining revenue sharing sites like Revver (Metacafe is also working on a rev share scheme). And if YouTube were to offer a similar system of ad revenue sharing, there’d be even less motivation for the talent to sign contracts with TV companies."

MultiChannel News:

"The program, Project MyWorld, features three young women from Los Angeles traveling the world to meet friends they’ve met on social-networking Web site MySpace (www.myspace.com).

“We are investing in original programming as a point of differentiation to attract and retain customers,” DirecTV executive vice president of entertainment Eric Shanks said Friday.

DirecTV is developing additional original programming for its channel 101 -- the same channel that will carry Project MyWorld and that currently runs weekly music program CD USA.

He added that the three stars of the show -- Shaina Fewell, Renee Intlekofer and Taryn Southern -- developed the concept and pitched it to DirecTV themselves.

DirecTV has already shot 10 episodes of Project MyWorld. The company -- which has already reserved rights to slap the Project MyWorld brand on everything from lunchboxes to CD covers -- may pick it up for additional seasons if it generates buzz, he added."