
Online media groups interested in series production
Large media groups began to produce more and more original series broadcasted on the Internet, wanting to rival the production of television posts and wanting to get the same revenue from advertising as them.
The last one to be launched in this race, the Yahoo! group, is looking for experienced television writers and directors to produce four sitcoms, says The Wall Street Journal. The production budgets are between $700,000 and several million dollars per episode and each season will contain 10 episodes.
Such figures are reminiscent of the huge financial means adopted last year by Netflix online video content platform for the political -themed series 'House of Cards'. A budget valued at $100 million allowed the Netflix producers to engage Hollywood stars in the distribution and get more major awards, including a Golden Globe for actress Robin Wright and a Primetime Emmy Award for director David Fincher.
Sites with VOD content such as Netflix, are increasingly using these original series to differentiate from the other competing services.
The same strategy was adopted by its rival Hulu, but also by a newcomer to the field, Amazon, a giant in the field of online distribution.