Credit: VENN
Didn’t we try this already with G4?
A new company, VENN, is preparing to make a major splash in the gaming and entertainment industries. With $17 million in funding, the company is hoping to collect streaming media’s online celebrities and develop a channel that can dominate in advertising revenues.
They are looking at MTV as the template for a gaming explosion. As gaming gains more mainstream presence, the company believes that it could create a channel similar to MTV to attract a brand new audience.
VENN, which stands for Video Game Entertainment News Network, wants to connect gaming, music, fashion, and entertainment all into one. The network wants to focus on streamers, casters, and content creators as the new celebrities. These e-celebrities draw a lot of attention on their own, and would, ideally, draw new attention to programs that they are a part of.
VENN is looking to branch their network out on to Twitch, YouTube, Pluto, Hulu, and Roku. They are looking to attract top-tier talent as well as bring their sponsor-based streams into a typical network environment. They hope that the streamers would be able to supplement their sponsor-based income with their air time on VENN.
The exact type of content that the network would air has not been released at this time, but they hinted at a show similar to American Ninja Warrior in which contestants would battle through different levels of games. Many shows exist on channels such as Twitch, but the company hopes they can take those shows and add production value and additional programming around them.
VENN is rolling the dice on whether or not this generation would approve of mediated entertainment as opposed to the unmediated experience they currently have of watching peers do what they do through the streaming avenue. Many stars have been born through this streaming lifestyle, but based on the number of investors the company has been backed by, many seem to believe this hybrid model would work.
