Late last night, the Next New Networks development team launched what we might as well call 2.0 of our web platform, even though we’ve only just begun.

Visit any of our Next New Networks websites (a short list is below) and you’ll see some immediate improvements–a clean, well-thought out design, upgraded viewer accounts to include avatars and personal information and give us feedback when they “like” an episode, and our main focus: lots of ways to browse episodes on every page and to cross-promote other content from Next New Networks. And what’s even better is on the back end: robust content management that’s integrated with Tubemogul Pro, Visible Measures, and Freewheel, giving us one click publishing for all of our networks and industry-leading ad serving, tracking, and reporting.

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The mission was simple.

Create an original promo video every single day in the month of May. Why? Because “day” and “May” rhyme. Also, we’ve got a lot of talented folks sitting around the office, and our promos are a quick, fun way to get involved with the on-air portion of our productions.

THE TEAM

Matthias:
NNN editor by day, recent employee of the month, amazing chef

Jacob:
Intern, wear-er of slick cowboy shirts, omni-present guest star (more…)

We put out a lot of videos here at Next New Networks–a LOT of videos. But if you rarely get to see our CEO, Lance Podell, it’s because he’s out building our revenue and relationships and helping us constantly behind the scenes with how to better run every part of the company, from day to day issues to long term strategy.

This week Daisy Whitney and Andy Plesser of Beet.TV came by the office, and interviewed Lance about how the business of Next New Networks is doing. I thought he did great — if only we knew someone who could get this guy a regular web show!

p.s. Daisy interviewed me, too, though I wasn’t nearly as good so early in the morning.

Michael Uman and Luis Blanco of Interspectacular, the original designers of the N-bot (our NNN icon), didn’t realize what Justin Johnson could do with their creation.

Happy Earth Day.

Somehow it’s always comforting to me when I realize that even the stunningly talented among us has to work so hard to come up with great work. So, when Frank Olinsky (designer of our limited edition poster series) offered to share his concept sketches for his very cool Threadbanger poster, I couldn’t say no.

Frank isn’t a fashionista in the least so he told us about his wanderings around New York’s fashion district looking for an inspirational moment. He found it in the thread store, where he was shocked to find the thousands of choices available, all on plastic spools. He bought a bunch of stuff, not really knowing where he was going, and returned to his studio on pins and needles (ouch!) to assemble a puzzle.

The typography is completely invented by Frank needles and pins (cue The Ramones, or Jackie DeShannon, or The Searchers) and buttons. And without any insight from us, he serendipitiously stumbled upon producer Rob Czar’s passion for indie rock. Perfect.

Sometimes when something is just wonderful, like this poster, it seems to me like it was always just, you know, there. Once again, here I am, proven wrong. Wow!

[UPDATE: the video is live! Check it out.]

ThreadBanger, our DIY fashion network, which each week shows you how easy it is to create your own style, will be featured on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tonight - 6:30ET / 5:30 PT.

A couple of week’s ago reporter Kelly Wallace and the CBS crew stopped by our headquarters and interviewed hosts, Rob Czar and Corinne Leigh, for a piece on how this trend of creating your own fashion is on the rise. It’s something we’ve known for a while with popular sites like Etsy on the rise and our own site more than doubling in traffic even in the last month.

It seems that more and more people are interested not only in attesting their own personal style, but at the same time becoming eco-conscious as well as financially mindful.  With the economic situation being what it is, we are more aware of where and how we spend our money. Instead of buying new clothes we can re-construct and recycle and in doing so be fashionable, help the environment and our wallets all at the same time.

And these days with video instructions online it’s easier than ever. Our whole motto at ThreadBanger is style your way. Whether its learning how to sew a button or transforming plastic bags into a laptop case, ThreadBanger has you covered. Also we couldn’t do it with out our community who each week suggest new ideas and submit their own projects that keep our show going.

So, tune in tonight and find out what all the buzz is about.  Big thanks to CBS for the coverage and shout out to our community.

Tabletop photography by Janette Beckman

Digital, smidgidal.

When we gave the assignment of a year’s worth of Next New Networks posters to designer Frank Olinsky we asked him to tell our stories. The stories about the people who love our networks, and the people who make them. Sure, we use all the modern toys; we use digital cameras, computer editing, we distribute through the internet. But, our tools just make things easier, they don’t make them better. The people do.

Frank watched Threadbanger and Fast Lane Daily a lot. He’s not particularly a fashion maven or a car geek. But, like everyone else in the world he’s touched by them every day and he tried to look for the hand crafting that goes into the clothes, the cars, and of course, the networks. He spent a day in the fashion district of New York, observing and sifting. When he came upon a thread store –a thread store– and put it together with Rob’s and Corinne’s love of indie bands he had his solution. And, after pouring through the automotive section of the New York TImes, he realized the materials for the FLD were right in his hand. Almost everyone who’s ever bought a car (before the 21st century anyhow) started in the local newspaper.

So the next time you’re watching any television or video on the internet, while it might seem obvious, there’s actual humans behind all the digital shenanigans. Hopefully, our posters will remind of them too.

In every generation, there comes a true artist. A Da Vinci, a Donatello, a Michael Bay … an individual who makes a lasting mark upon his particular craft, sending ripples of unstoppable talent skittering across the tapestry of the world.

While he may not have painted his Mona Lisa quite yet, in the world of internet motion graphics, there’s none so delightful as Eden Soto.
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We’re all really excited about the response so far to $99 Music Videos — there’s been a great amount of buzz and press coverage in just the first day, from places like Wired, Ad Age, The Wall Street Journal, and CMJ, which we’ll try to round up here as soon as the smoke clears.

Today all of us got together in the office to celebrate the launch as well as another big milestone — the two-year anniversary of ThreadBanger. That’s right, we launched ThreadBanger two years ago. We couldn’t resist the chance to take a picture of our very first Next New Networks producers to get a show, ThreadBanger’s Corinne and Rob, with our latest, $99’s Jack and Melissa. It’s hard to believe we’ve been launching great networks for over two years now.

Today, we’re excited to announce our latest entertainment network, $99 Music Videos. Created and Produced by Webby-Honored filmmaker Jack Ferry, $99 Music Videos connects up-and-coming bands with talented filmmakers to create a music video masterpiece for $99 or less.

Every week we’ll publish two new episodes: a brand new music video, and a behind-the-scenes look at how the video was made. Check out the first music video, directed by Jack Ferry, for Brooklyn band La Strada’s new track, “The Sun Song”:

Check out how this video was made!

We’re also excited to announce a partnership with Verizon, making it the first time we’ve kicked off a network with an exclusive launch sponsor. This is a huge validation of the work we’ve been doing and we’re really excited to have them on board. There are a number of ways we’ve worked their sponsorship into the network, including “Quick Tip” segments giving additional insights into how the videos were made quickly and effectively, and companion media and integrated sponsor graphics on our website and distribution points like the $99 Music Videos YouTube channel.

We hope you’ll check out the series and let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more from $99 Music Videos every Tuesday and Thursday. Please feel free to follow the network on your favorite places like iTunes, YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter, and if you’re interested in making your own $99 music video, here’s a video from Jack telling you how. Hopefully, we’ll be showing one of your videos on $99 Music Videos sometime soon.