Turner unit experiments with niche sites

Turner Broadcasting has set up a small team to develop new web ideas. In recent months, the team has launched CNN Pipeline, VeryFunnyAds and ACC Select. Coming soon is SuperDelux, a site with original short-form comedy clips. “We’re building businesses outside our core that allow us to compete for other pools of money,” says Turner Entertainment Group President Mark Lazarus. Reports the Wall Street Journal:

Turner’s low-cost, niche approach contrasts sharply with the strategy of some rivals. For one thing, it has no “digital czar” steering its overall strategy. Turner Chief Executive Phil Kent says centralizing Web functions can stifle creativity. Turner has also resisted the temptation to put its TV brands, with the exception of CNN and Cartoon Network, at the center of its Web effort.

Right on the money. Turner understands the the web is not merely an extension of TV, and the real potential lives in underserved niches. By allowing a new unit the freedom to explore these opportunities from a web perspective, Turner’s online ventures are not shackled to old media thinking and slow product launches. (WSJ sub. req.)

Add comment January 4th, 2007