A Review of the Recent Creation of Niche Video Social Networks by Old Media Companies

It’s an overall trend for larger, established media companies to create niche, video social networks on the web in the past few weeks.  Their previous attempts to rival with the likes of MySpace and YouTube have failed miserably, and they’re beginning to realize that targeting a specialized demographic is a more effective way to build their online presence.  In some cases, these larger companies have taken the liberty of creating several niche social networks in an attempt to broaden their appeal.  This makes sense on many levels, and depending on the type of company, they could effectually bring in a new audience that may never have taken to online social networking otherwise.

Who’s Making These Niche Social Networks for Video?

Mostly long standing media companies looking to grow their online presence are creating these sites.  Hearst revealed their partnership with Maven to release their social networking components earlier this week, encouraging the uploading of video to twelve of their niche social networks, which correspond to several of Hearst’s existing magazine titles.

Super Deluxe, an online community devoted to comedy, original skits and user-submitted content, is a subsidiary of Time Warner.  Though Drew Reifenberger, SVP and General Manager of Super Deluxe, had long wanted Warner to create something along these lines, it wasn’t until recently, with the explosive growth of online communities, that they had been permitted to create such a network.  Time Warner has actually launched several niche communities online, including veryfunnyads and ACC Select, to cater to a wide range of demographics.

Why Are They Making These Social Networks?

The viral video has epitomized the culture of the Internet in the past year.  That being said, much of what was popular was also pirated.  The rightful owners of those John Stewart and Saturday Night Live clips had no choice but to notice the rise of YouTube and the importance of video virality.  So when it came down to these established media companies creating niche social networks, it seemed only proper to incorporate user-generated videos. 

The best thing about niche social networks is their targeted demographic.  In this manner, it is very easy to woo marketers.  It’s an irresistable catch for advertising campaigns when they have the exact audience they want, ready, willing and able.  Now that more resources are being put in place to involve video ads into user-submitted content, the streams of revenue are widening for the creators of these niche social networks. 

Who Benefits from Niche Video Social Networks?

The creators of the networks definitely benefit from their niche markets.  These media companies have downsized the risk involved with advertisers placing their commercials with user-generated material.  They know what kind of content they’re getting.  Hearst’s recent partnership with Maven to enable user-generated video content has allowed Hearst to market directly to their consumers.

The middlemen benefit as well.  YuMe officially launched this week as well, providing a centralizing factor for video-hosting sites and advertisers.  They effectively scan the video content and categorize it accordingly in order to match up the correct ads with the appropriate videos.  Now is a prime opportunity for them to grow their client base on both ends of the spectrum.

This article was written by Kristen Nicole, who writes for 606tech.com.