Conan O’Brien’s latest piece of cult comedy, which has snowballed from an ad-lib quip into an internet sensation, is another example of the online world at its finest, but it also shows the gap in thinking between the new and old media types.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, this NYT article should fill you in, but to be brief Conan referenced a fictional domain, HornyManatee.com, in a recent skit. As part of some US law (or maybe just to be safe), NBC bought the address up and the Late Night team decided to make the most of the purchase.
What that throw away line created was a website clocking up 3 million hits, an ongoing gag for the Late Night team, plenty of positive press and even more viewer contributions on all things manatee.
This whole thing is a perfect example of how the internet allows traditional media to give little extras to the audience. It’s also about how an appreciative audience can repay you ten-fold, in this case in the form of content. What’s disappointing, however, is that while Conan & Co. seem to understand that (and are basking in it), NBC are missing the point completely.
One of the contributions that was subsequently shown on Late Night was a poem about the manatee, recited by James Lipton. If you search for it on YouTube you should stumble across a clip for it, but then you’ll be hit with the usual spiel of the content being removed at the request of the copyright holders, NBC.
What gets me the most about this is that 1) the gag that features was sent in by a member of the audience who was paid nothing in return and 2) Late Night isn’t a drama that’ll be brought out on DVD later in the year, so there’s no real revenue stream being denied by offering it for free online after the initial airing anyway.
HornyManatee.com is a funny fad that will probably run out of steam at some point, but not before NBC receive a lot of positive buzz and Late Night receives plenty of mileage from an originally throw-away gag. If only NBC realised that the more accessible you make it to the audience, the more you’ll get out of it before everyone moves on.
Oh well.