Next New Networks gets funding — for another niche video play
Next New Networks is the latest company to launch a niche content strategy — this time, online TV sites tailored to specific themes.
The New York company has received $8 million in a first round of funding from Spark Capital, an East Coast venture capital firm focused on media companies.
The logic is clear. Advertisers like niche sites. Nothing really new here, so this investment is not very surprising. The only question is, why does it need $8 million?
Next New Network is so early, that it has nothing really to show yet. Co-founders Fred Seibert and Emil Rensing started Frederator and VOD Cars, respectively, but those are nascent sites that will change significantly soon, the company tells us. Other co-founders include Herb Scannell, who is chief executive, Jed Simmons and Tim Shey. Scannell is former vice chairman of MTV Networks and president of Nickelodeon. The others are all experienced media execs too.
The business model is advertising tailored to the niche of the particular video site’s audience. Each show will run between three and 12 minutes long. It is similar to Revision3, the San Francisco company started by Digg co-founders Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose (which we wrote about here). That company raised only $1 million.
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
