BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis has two new endeavors under his Exploding Video brand: IdolCritic, an American Idol criticism site (wo)manned by the 39 Second Single online-serial crew, and PrezVid, which is following the 2008 election cycle.
Old-timers may remember Jarvis as the TV Guide “Couch Critic,” so it’s no surprise that he’s back on the TV-critic beat with IdolCritic. PrezVid is different and more ambitious. Jarvis told us, “PrezVid is about following the campaign via YouTube. Thanks to YouTube and other services, we have a new window on the candidates. And the candidates have new ways to talk to voters. There is a ton of stuff to watch, and plenty of news and journalism to be had. We’ll have ‘macaca’ moments, and it will be a way to see commercials we couldn’t see before. We’ll watch from a critical angle and a fun angle.” Indeed, early entries on the site are a mix of heavy and light: a wonkish talk from Hilary Clinton and a very animated Dennis Kucinich stump speech set to songs about Pinocchio and Peter Pan.
This is all fun and interesting, but how does Jarvis expect to make money? “Advertising,” he says. “It’s still very early in this world, maybe just the first minute. We’re making stuff, getting better, getting an audience. Then I can take that audience to advertisers. It’s not expensive. My son is my webmaster. I’m editing the video myself, as you can tell. It’s so damn cheap to get started.”