Ever since a bootleg clip of a Saturday Night Live sketch comedy skit put YouTube on the map in December 2005, the growing consensus among Web watchers has been that short comedy clips are the “killer app” of the brave new viral video world.
So it’s no surprise that websites devoted solely to comedy videos are proliferating, from amateur sites to big-budget efforts backed by entertainment heavyweights.
Among the latter: SuperDeluxe.com, a comedy broadband network launched in January by Turner Broadcasting, and FunnyOrDie.com, a partnership between Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions and Sequoia Capital, venture capital firm behind YouTube and Google.
The business model is simple: Build it, make it funny enough, and the public will come. And once you get enough eyeballs, you can make money through advertising, just like regular TV networks.
Photo by FunnyOrDie.com.
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