Wetpaint Entertainment doesn’t have a thing to do with producing television programs, but it does rely on television programming for its own lease on life. It has a website and a Facebook presence aimed at attracting fans of popular television programming.
The company has selected 15 hot television offerings, scours the world wide web for information and photos about the programs, and provides them to fans. It also provides the fans with a site to converse with Wetpaint editors and with one another about their favorite programs.
Wetpaing claims almost 500K Facebook fans.
Each show will have its own virtual “channel,” which the company says will be a fan’s “single source for the hottest gossip, latest headlines, newest music, and coolest fashion on fans’ favorite shows. Among the new site’s special features are galleries of the stars in red carpet looks, pages of photos showing users how to get the look, and videos showing fans how to style themselves like the stars. Each show channel includes photo galleries, videos, trivia, spoilers, episode recaps, guides to characters and cast, and more.”
The site skews young and broadcast. Five of the 15 programs are on CW, and ABC has five as well. Fox gets the only other broadcast channel. Bravo has two channels, with one each for ABC Family and MTV.
Here’s the full list:
* The Vampire Diaries (CW)
* Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
* America’s Next Top Model (CW)
* Castle (ABC)
* Hellcats (CW)
* Nikita (CW)
* Glee (Fox)
* Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
* Top Chef (Bravo)
* Pretty Little Liar (ABC Family)
* Bachelorette (ABC)
* The Bachelor (ABC)
* Gossip Girl (CW)
* Jersey Shore (MTV)
* The Real Housewives of DC (Bravo)
RBR-TVBR observation: Wow – this is a barnacle business, that couldn’t exist without attaching itself to a solid already-existent business. That said, two things are clear for this internet-based enterprise. Youth trumps maturity, and ratings –33% of the shows followed are on CW; and broadcast trumps cable 11-4, another incontrovertible indication of the high value of broadcast programming.
