Reel Pop

Daily Links: Winsome Picket

• Writers vote to end strike
  "This now gives us a foothold in the digital age." Mixed metaphors aside, spoken in 2008, this somehow this reminds me of that Roseanne episode where the Conner family buys a VCR and Darlene says "Congratulations! We've just leaped into the '90s!"
• Video game crit vid series Zero Punctuation goes to G4
  Even if you hate video games, you must watch the episode lambasting Bioshock. "Yahtzee! You charismatic stallion!" [via]
• Streaming vid ad rev worth $6.6B by 2012
  That's not a little.
• Johnson and Johnson Web ads depart from TV formula
  Walking the razor's edge with animation.
• Collection of TV Signoffs
  As a famous, artificially biracial king of pop once crooned, "do you remember the time?" [via]

Survey Says: Internet Is More Fun than Scribe-less Boob Tube

The "duh" moment approacheth. A slew of surveys out recently show that viewers, droopy-eyed from interminable reruns, are turning to the all-singing, all-buffering, all-day-long entertainment of the Web.

Let's put aside for the moment that all the surveys are authored by "Internet consultancies" with a vested interest in raising the perceived value of their online services in the wake of the strike (hi Mindshare, Interpret, and Burst Media, hi hi!). I mean, while what they're arguing is true -- that the Interwebosphere is infinitely more gee whiz than teevee -- they obvi have ulterior motives. They just want rebound sex. So hot.

Up first: Mindshare says 92% of peeps know there's a strike now, as opposed to ~30% in November. About half the 1,000 folks polled said they're spending more time online now.

According to Interpret, DVD movies, DVD TV shows, video games, and something called "reading" have all benefited.

And Burst Media says 16.5% of women may actually start turning off their TVs.

Get. Out.

P.S. Apparently people are also doing more laundry while they watch TV, too, which is inspiring and totally not the case at casa de Reel Pop.

Can NASCAR Exec take FunnyOrDie to Next Level?

Will Ferrell's FunnyOrDie.com is getting a new CEO in NASCAR vp Dick Glover, whose name is not at all evocative of prophylactics.

At NASCAR Glover was responsible for marketing the brand to networks and studios, and we have him to thank, in part, for the marketing of "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and "Talladega Nights."

Glover's appointment is interesting for two reasons: One, it comes at an auspicious time, when the writers strike has hobbled TV and studio production. Ferrell, as a dot-com businessman and card-carrying member of the WGA, is no doubt sensitive to the opportunities available in the online space.

Two, Glover's experience as a former vp at the most branded sports franchise in the States, not to mention his prior stints at ABC/Walt Disney (NASCAR synergy: "Herbie" was a Walt Disney film), means he's well-positioned to tackle branding and advertising opportunities for Ferrell's site. Who better to bring a dot-com mainstream success than a dude accustomed to marketing to America's heartland?

Striking Writers Starting Own Studios?

"Dozens" of striking writers are negotiating with venture capitalists in efforts to establish their own online entertainment studios and bypass the traditional studios, according to the LA Times.

Tech investors have been reticent to fund entertainment ventures in the past, largely because they see programs/movies as one-offs with low post-debut margins compared to tech ventures, which have more of an innate ability to grow virally and with less overhead.

Earlier this year, Will Ferrell's FunnyOrDie.com had a hit with the vid "Landlord," essentially making the Web safe for A-list talent.

A handful of web companies, like Revision3 and Yahoo, are currently attempting to produce original content for the web, with mixed results. Yahoo's had the most experience -- Wow House, Richard Bang's Adventures, In the Hot Zone -- but has often fallen short of its stockholder's expectations. Perhaps the most successful original entertainment initiative from a tech company is AOL's Gold Rush which, while not successful across all demographics, did attract a large number of women age 35 to 44.