Will Revision3 survive the downturn?
As the economic downturn continues, yet another growing giant in the tech space has been beaten to the point of breaking. Revision3, the media company responsible for the mega-hit Diggnation and quite a few other major podcasts, has laid off a third of it’s staff, and cancelled a few of its own shows including “Internet Superstar” and “PopSiren”. Also, if you were a fan of shows like “Wine Library TV”, you won’t be seeing them on revision3 anymore. The distribution deal was cancelled.
What does this mean for Revision3 and the tech market in general? Find out after the jump.
Kent Nichols broke the situation down extremely well on his blog:
In financial markets, we have been seeing what’s termed as flight to quality. Basically that means investors are abandoning the stock markets for the safer places to put their money.
You should be doing the same thing for your career. Rev3 has some of the best behind the scenes talent in the online space. They have a great sales team and good leadership and a solid flagship show in DiggNation. And they can’t make it.
F*CK!
Indeed. When a company running a MEGA hit like Diggnation, which regularly brings out thousands of people to it’s live shows can’t survive in it’s current state in this climate, we know things are starting to get really bad. I wouldn’t go as far as Kent and say that Rev3 should be added to the Deadpool. That’s a bit extreme.
Chances are though, that more of the shows will be cancelled in the coming months, and money will be funneled into making the hit shows they have even better. I’d look for Revision3 to try and work out new and different distribution deals to get the shows in front of more and more eyeballs.
Basically, Revision3 has only one chance to survive. Online video costs a mint in production costs and bandwidth, and I’m sure with the VCs tightening the belts a bit, the money is drying up quick. While layoffs and cancellations are always depressing, keeping a company alive is paramount. I for one hope they can keep up the great content for years to come.