If you’re a fan of online video, you’ve probably heard of Revision3. Plenty of people are calling the company “RevisionG4” in light of the recent changes.
Primer
If you’re unfamiliar with Revision3 here’s a quick primer: The company started as a vehicle to produce podcasts like thebroken, systm, and Diggnation. Many new shows followed and lots of familiar faces were added to the mix. Those of us who missed TechTV were comforted with the arrivial of Revision3 along with TWiT.
The shake up
Recently, there have been big changes over at Revision3. Cancellations of shows, distribution deals dropped and personnel changes.
Shows canceled
The following Revision3 shows are no longer in production:
- Pixel Perfect: A Photoshop tutorial program hosted by Photoshop master Bert Monroy.
- Pop Siren: a show aimed at women covering pop culture hosted by Sarah Lane
- Internet Superstar: an interview program where hosts Martin Sargent and Jay Speiden talk with people who are Internet famous.
Officially, there really is no reason Pixel Perfect was canceled. The other two shows apparently “never really found their audience.” The shows have not been retired to the Revision3 Show Archive just yet, but that is a matter of time.
Other changes
More changes occurred recently. Revision3 had been distributing non-Revision3 shows such as Wine Library and Epic Fu. Revision3 will no longer distribute these shows. These programs had a life before Revision3 and will probably continue on their own.
Some new faces are gone and some familiar faces from TechTV no longer have the same association with Revision3. Heather Frank, Sarah Lane, Glenn Mcelhose, Martin Sargent, and Jay Speiden were all let go from their jobs. Sargent and Mcelhose are supposed to have some kind of new roles with Revision3.
Backlash
The Revision 3 blog post announcing the changes has over 200 comments, most of them quite unhappy with the lineup change. Plenty of folks have some choice words for CEO Jim Louderback echoing statements from a particular “Internet Superstar” promo.
Revision3 must be quite aware of its intensely loyal fanbase. They’ve never shied away from open discussions on their forums or the comment section of their blog. They knew there would be a backlash. Why would they take such a step if they were going to be met with such resistance? It’s really quite simple.
RevisionG4?
The fact is Revision3 is a business. The shows that were cut must not have been producing sufficient returns to continue production. It’s as simple as that. Pushing a show that just does not have an audience after quite a test period just doesn’t make sense.
Shows take time to produce. From coming up with show ideas, to shooting, to editing, to posting the shows online with their RSS feeds – all of these things take a tremendous amount of time and energy. Sometimes hard decisions have to be made.
Revision3 has investors that expect a return. Venture capitalists are not in the business of just giving away money with no expectation.
Opportunity
Revision3 hasn’t turned into RevisionG4. G4 took TechTV and made it FUBAR. G4 didn’t just fire talent, they changed the entire format of the network. Revision3 is still producing plenty of tech programming.
When TechTV finally dropped, TWiT and Revision3 were the new places to find the shows you wanted. Right now, anybody can fill the void left by the departure of PixelPerfect, Pop Siren, and Internet Superstar. It’s easy to grab some screen capture software, a camcorder, and some editing software to put together new shows if you want to.
Are you going to fill the void? Do you think Revision3 sold out? Sound off in the comments.
Read [Revision3 Blog]
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