Irregular readers will know that I have written a few pieces about my former employer Endemol. The first was about the TV demise of Big Brother and how it should have allowed them to explore the format online and socially. It didn’t apparently.
The second was about Manchester City appointing them to exploit their brand. I thought it was a smart move as football is nothing if not an entertainment format with lots of content. But all that was produced was a somewhat boring documentary.
Both opportunities should have been 360, transmedia, leading edge, digital content love-fests. But no. Really very TV solutions to things that could be have been far, far more.
And now, I see why. They haven’t got a Scooby what they are doing when it comes anything outside of their cosy TV commissions.
So, that’s it for Endemol UK. They have finally shown that they simply don’t get the modern, social networked content consumer. They have jumped the shark.
How do we know this?
They just bought Holy Moly. A second rate celeb gossip site that was big for a while back in the celeb mad noughties. The site started by the son of s TV exec. (a comfort blanket for Endemol I’m sure), has been overtaken by Twitter, Facebook and other places where such ‘gossip’ now happens. And that’s not even talking about the dying of that celeb driven market.
I’m sure they see some 360 loveliness, where the old Endemol celebrity machine will turn full circle, both generating and venerating the same people. What i see is another white elephant that will be put in the frozen wastes of the 5th floor of Endemol Towers (where only the hardy Brooker survives). Give it 18 months and it will be quietly taken out back and shot.
Holy Moly indeed.
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