Comedy Central Pushing for More Webseries

Adweek reports that Comedy Central is unveiling two new web-shows as its parent MTV Entertainment Group attempts to develop more content for online.  The move has also led to a shakeup at MTVN Entertainment Group in the Web production staff. The move was made in an attempt to create a division within the company that will be producing content specifically for online.

The two shows currently in development art the Axe Dirtcatholon, sponsored by the aforementioned Axe Shower Gel, and The Download, an interview/talk show.

The difficulty I see for Comedy Central, and any other large media corporation moving into web-production is an issue of competition. The shows that these networks produce for cable are generally of a much higher quality than the ones they release for online. But in the competition on cable and broadcast is generally much less than the competition online.

In a linear programming environment, you’re only competing with the other several hundred shows airing at any given moment. Online, the non-linear nature of programming puts you in direct competition with millions of other shows and videos. On top of that, the ad dollars are worth much less.

By entering an already crowded marketplace with a substandard product, I’m not quite sure what MTV Networks hopes to accomplish. If web-shows are to survive, we need the most creative people out there working on them. They need to have the full might of the production funding of major studios.

Then they might have a chance in competing for my attention against a video of a kitten sneezing.