Hey, if you thought the "user-generated" video content market was already pretty funny, it might be on the verge of getting hysterical. TBS—you know, the "very funny" cable network—has launched a partnership with ViTrue to create Funny or Not?, a new online community launching in November on the network’s tbs.com Web site. What’s Funny or Not? The idea is that users can participate in the user community and upload their own comedic videos; the community will be promoted on the TBS network, and original video submissions may be aired on TBS between scheduled programming.
Funny or Not? will be powered by ViTrue’s "User-Created Advertising Platform;" the company is best known for creating the Sharkle online video sharing site.
"As TBS continues to build its online presence, especially in terms of broadband entertainment, we are focusing on ways to engage our audience of comedy lovers in new and exciting ways," said Jennifer Dorian, senior VP of branding and network strategy for TBS and its sister network TNT. "ViTrue provides us with an engaging technology platform that enables viewers to interact with our brand in a compelling way, while also being in line with TBS’s views regarding the protection of copyrighted material online."
TBS may be on to something: it’s Very Funny Ads site seems to have found following with…well, people who choose to use the Internet to watch advertising. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
