EP Writing for Interactive Media Forum

"...a tragedy for the whole Internet if we fail."

American Cybercast, the pioneering web soap opera company that produces The Spot, a continuing interactive series, is close to the end of its rope. Senior vice president Kay Dangaard told Cowles Media Daily that the company need new financing fast or it will have to close down.

Then she said, "This will be a tragedy for the whole Internet if we fail." Oh.

We studied some web soap opera business plans recently for an advertising client at GRLab. I don't get the whole concept. While The Spot and American Cybercast's other continuing sites attracted some big name advertisers and investors, it always seemed a bit too retro to me. Marketers trying to force an audience copied the early television formula of sponsored soap operas rather than write to the new medium.

Is there a place for interactive narrative on the web? Can Internet ad revenues ever cover the expense of creating daily copy for a web soap? Do we want the small but loyal audience that follows a continuing story or would we prefer a broader more transient universe of more occasional browsers? And what does it cost to attract the critical mass of readers to cover the massive overhead that American Cybercast needed? (The staff numbered more than 50 before layoffs last November and the company is reportedly seeking more than $20 million to keep its doors open.)

God bless them for trying to answer these questions. I hope they make it.