Yahoo Giving Failed Pepsi TV Show Chance To Fail Again

from the repurposing dept

Have you heard of "Pepsi Smash," the show on WB that featured live concert performances from popular acts like Coldplay and Gwen Stefani? Dont' worry, hardly anyone else did either. So, in an attempt to resurrect the show, Pepsi is moving the Smash content to another medium altogether -- the internet. Pepsi found a willing partner in Yahoo, which will let users/viewers stream segments of the performances that aired on TV plus new ones designed for the web. Our first reaction was, the show that bombed on TV will probably bomb online too. Even when little-watched shows do make combacks, they usually have a rabid cult following that made lots of noise about it. Pepsi Smash didn't exactly seem like a critical hit. Other than it being entertaining, we also wonder how well the show will be tailored to web viewers. A Pepsi exec says they plan to make it more interactive, but other than cutting up the content into smaller bits, we don't see much other evidence that it's being made more online-friendly. The other interesting aspect of this story is Yahoo's continued march into music and media. In that sense, this deal might not represent a typical comeback scenario, where broadcasters will be comparing new "ratings" to the first iteration. After all, it's mainly just a bunch of web-based video clips aimed at boosting Yahoo's music portfolio and Pepsi's brand awareness. Yahoo and Pepsi might just be looking at this project more as a loss-leading promotional vehicle -- though, how promotional is it if no one watches? If anything, we're betting on more losses (leading or not) than promotion.

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