DECA

The third most subscribed channel on YouTube is a comedy team who calls themselves “Smosh” and they have almost 1 million people following their account. The cool thing about them is that they are from the area.

Anthony and Ian, also known as Smosh, grew up in Carmichael and after high school started writing and shooting comedy sketches. They started putting some of their stuff on YouTube and they haven’t looked back since.

Listen to the two-part interview with Anthony and Ian on KDND’s website.

DECA, an acronym for Digital Entertainment Corp. of America, is exploring several ways to produce Web series in unusually marketer-centric ways. It seeks extended sponsorships—generally three months or longer, the prices for which start in the six figures—for specific properties. Rather than attempting to import to the Web the scripted series model birthed by television, DECA capitalizes on existing bloggers’ popularity to build properties that feature established online personalities and are aimed at specific demographic slices. It also enlists its talent to make and star in commercials for its advertisers. If this works, DECA will have found a way to fund online video—having a long-term sponsor or two significantly reduces the pressure to sell lots of ads—and bring chary advertisers into a new media realm.

Meanwhile, some of the studio efforts left in the field include… DECA, which is now focusing on video-focused vertical community sites like Momversation and others.

The top-100 midtail producers — including names such as College Humor, Smosh and MyDamnChannel — have racked up more than 2 billion views during the past six months on YouTube, growing nearly 5% a month on average, according to video analytics firm TubeMogul. Meanwhile, the full-length hour-long and half-hour TV shows on YouTube, 3,215 episodes in all, have accumulated 19.5 million views.

Content Captains: Developing new-media programming to remember

Michael Wayne
Co-founder, president and CEO, DECA

Wayne launched his first startup, an English-language magazine in Prague, right out of college in 1995. He then helped build music site Launch.com, which raised $80 million in 2001 and was later bought by Yahoo. And since 2007, he’s raised $15 million for his digital entertainment startup that nurtures “organically grown Internet stars.” So far, he’s built seven properties, including Smosh, a teen site that’s the third most-watched YouTube channel of all time; Momversation, videos and blogs by moms; and Project Lore, dedicated to the popular online game World of Warcraft. “There is this idea that talent is based in L.A,” he says. “We feel that Internet talent is all over the world.”

The player: Michael Wayne, co-founder and CEO of digital studio DECA.

The play: DECA is a digital studio that funds, markets and distributes digital shows. The company makes money via advertising support for its shows.

The pitch: DECA’s focus is on nurturing talent and personalities who are unique to the Web, Mr. Wayne said. In addition, DECA aims to bring brands early on into Web-centric content that they feel comfortable sponsoring. The company’s projects include Momversation, Project Lore and Smosh. These all have a Web ethos but are also brand-safe for many advertisers, Mr. Wayne said. DECA has stuck deals with brands including Activision, Bank of America, Blizzard, Falcon Northwest, IBM, Target, Verizon and Visa.

DECA is always surprising me. It really looks at the digital space as a blank canvas and constantly rethinks and reinvents what a content experience might look like. Some projects it’s developed over the last year include the innovative vlogger aggregated show Momversation and expansion of the Smosh empire. And in addition to developing and expanding great shows, it also develops the brand utilities that surround shows and motivation strategies.

Digital studios like DECA, Agility, Next New Networks, Electric Farm Entertainment, Revision3 and others are fiercely competing with YouTube, Hulu, broadcast and cable networks and online video advertising networks for the precious few Web video ad dollars. Media firm Magna forecasts the U.S. market for online video will grow by 32% this year, rising from $531 million in 2008 to $699 million in 2009.

We were very impressed when we first got a look at Momversation. The site is attractive and it’s easy to find current and recent posts as well as links to the site’s other features. Getting into Momversation is as easy as clicking on the play button for the video. You will see a well produced video featuring some of the site’s nine panelists. Within each video, there are short snippets from each panelist, keeping the viewer’s interest levels high. Once an episode is over, there are opportunities to connect with the panelists and with other moms through the blog comments and the site’s own forum.

Nielsen Online’s Power Mom 50 is a collection of leading voices in the mom blogosphere based on a blend of blog posts, comments and link love developed through ongoing monitoring of more than 10,000 mom and parenting blogs as tracked by Nielsen Buzzmetrics. In addition to site engagement, number of Twitter followers, ratings and other metrics were included in the calibration to provide a comprehensive sphere of authority and influence.

Momversation panelists, including Daphne Brogdon of Cool Mom, comprise six of the top 15 Power Moms online.