MTV Networks Consolidates Web Properties into new Spike.com
Sometimes there is greater value in the sum of a company’s parts, other times, breaking things up just leads to confusion and lost value (or lost customers). Fearing the latter to be the case with their web strategy, MTV Networks is regrouping some of their slate of websites into a new consolidated property.
In a tip of the hat to the rapid growth of Spike TV, the new site will be called Spike.com. It will be home to the former Spike TV website along with video site iFilm. Some content from gaming site GameTrailers and Xfire will also move over though those properties will retain their own URL’s.
The new site will target the same audiences in the 18-34 age group as they did when operated individually but as a consolidated effort, and with audience overlap erased, the company hopes they’ll now be better positioned for ad sales. (And single ad team should mean lower cost overhead too)
"We’re able to present a much larger audience to the marketplace," John Slusser, who will head the Spike.com site and become Sr Vice President of a newly created Spike Digital Media Entertainment Group, noted “There are a lot of cool sites around who are all doing neat things on their own, but I feel like we can really harness the power of what we can provide advertisers."
He also believes the consolidation will erase confusion and help create a better environment to draw and engage their audience. On that he commented, "There is a lot of overlap in all these audiences. The people who like cars also like girls, they like computers, and they like sports. We see a lot of opportunities in reaching them this way."
The Spike.com channel will have some content from other MTV properties like Comedy Central or MTV but it’s largely planned as its own entity.
The site has already gotten a soft start. Spike.com, SpikeTV.com and iFilm all redirect to the same site at the iFilm address and carry the logo “Spike, powered by iFilm.” The formal, planned relaunch is scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.
Like a summer movie season overloaded with Tent-Pole flicks (“Tent Poles” are the high earning summer films that offset the failures), the new site will join a busy slate of high profile launches planned for same period. Other hopeful blockbusters debuting at the same time include NBC/News Corp billion dollar video joint venture Hulu, NBC’s advertising site Didja and Warner Brother’s Cartoon animation super station T-Works.
