Comment by ChuckFrank | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChuckFrank | Hacker News Reader

Creating content online is NOT a viable business model. Recent history is littered with new content creators, and they've failed. The viable business model is either to host other content - YouTube, Hulu, Pandora, GrooveShark, Earbits, etc - Or to create content that is agnostic as to their use - Hollywood Studios, NY Publishers, Music Labels. - So either AOL should transition to a creator, or transition to a online host. It can't expect to have a viable future by creating content for online only. This is true of AOL and any other business model that tries this. JustinTV - Hosts, ESPN - Hosts, The WKUK - Creators, Monty Python - Creators. So please, once and for all, let's stop imagining these Online Studios, or these Online Magazine, or even worse, these Ipad Magazines. Instead think Vice. They've got music, magazines, tv, movies, and they don't care where you see it. http://www.vbs.tv/ - http://www.viceland.com/ . Just a bunch of Canadians that thought that they could rewrite the magazine business model by giving away their magazines for free. And look where that's taken them. So to recap. Make your choice, either host or create, and abide by their distinct rules.

I worked for a content site that ultimately failed. We tried to do high quality content. Even paying writers a decent wage. Ultimately it devolved into what you read here, chasing PVs with provocative and borderline false headlines. Quality takes a back seat as soon as you realize you're bleeding money. It was really sad to see and became a soul-crushing environment. Very very tough business.

Plenty of folks are making money by creating and serving content online.

Who leads your list?

HackerNews :)

Well Hacker News doesn't make any revenue and acts as a community project of a company, not a profit-aiming brand.

It also produces 0 content, merely comments.

It's an aggregator.

We've all got used to the aggregators like google making all the money by convincing everyone content should be free. It was the greatest and long-term wise worst achievement of the dot com boom.

> It also produces 0 content, merely comments.

I wouldn't say those are mutually exclusive.

And even for the comments, HN hosts them and doesn't write them. Well, except when PG comments ;)

HackerNews is not a creator it's a host. It support my point.

I work for a small company that runs content sites, profitably

Sure there will be small content companies in all mediums, but you can't be a big single media content creator. You need to create other revenue venues over multiple channels. Besides, instead of just telling us, show us ... what site do you work for?

http://www.heavenmedia.com - 1.5 million monthly unique readers and 20m page views, employee number in low double digits.

  you can't be a big single media content creator

Why not? I see no reason it can't be scaled up, and we've scaled up by purchasing several websites in the past couple of years (from small to slightly less small). Sure, the bigger you get the harder it is, because there's more work creating the content, and more work monetising it, and more opportunities for making mistakes. But it's certainly doable.

Jonathan Coulton, The Guild, Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog, Talking Points Memo... i mean, there is a list of these people.

Having thought of the best multiple channel content creator, I've come up with Disney. Disney makes everything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Disney

Anyone have a better example, or of the elusive single online content creator? (Like AOL tired / is trying to be). We have penny arcade as the leading example. http://www.penny-arcade.com/ and since I had never heard of them before this, I am skeptical, but I'm checking them out.

Penny Arcade has PAX (http://prime.paxsite.com/) and merch (http://store.penny-arcade.com/) to help them out. Also, giant heapings of goodwill. People love them.

How many businesses have to succeed at it before it's considered a viable business model? How many have to fail before it's not?

And where can you see Vice TV other than online?

Good point. Vice may not be the best example. Perhaps I'm a bit too enamored with their inversion of the magazine model. I just thought that they were are great new cross platform content creator. Can you think of any other? Good is good too. http://www.good.is/

One example of great success is Penny Arcade - started off doing nothing but producing content, and basically leveraged it into a fucking empire - store selling merchandise, multiple conventions per year, and a children's charity.

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