Initially hoping to get advertisers to supply the start-up cost for its online video productions, Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX) tells the NYT that it has taken an abrupt reversal in its web entertainment strategy: as the case with TV, the company will provide the money for its internet content, then try to get ad support once it’s completed.  Craig Hunegs, EVP for business development at Warner Bros., concedes that the company did “a little dance” with advertisers before settling on its current strategy. Over the past year, Warner Bros., and other major entertainment companies, have come to the realization that in order to attract advertisers, they must be the ones to bear most of the risk.

So with that gamble in mind, Warner Bros. is expected to announce Studio 2.0 Monday. The 24 web series it hopes will gain sponsors include The Jeannie Tate Show, a 10-episode comedy about a crazed soccer mom; an online dating show; an animated series based on the Wizard of Oz; Viral, a fake documentary that seems pretty close to home, as it “chronicles” the attempts of a digital studio to come up with an online video hit.

Compared to the multimillion dollar risk associated with broadcast TV, the two dozen-plus web shows productions are fairly light; Warner Bros. has spent about $3 million on its new online video shows combined. But as the Times notes, Warner doesn’t have much to show for its past year’s activity: the sole release—sports satire Hardly News—failed to find an audience on Anheuser-Busch’s struggling Bud.tv. Studio 2.0 may try to revive the quiz show with different distribution.

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