While the much hyped and poor Quarterlife series crashed and burned in its attempt to jump from Webisodic series to TV prime time, another project has become a real viral online hit. The Guild is a ten-part sitcom series by a gamer and indie filmmaker Felicia Day. The show, which is distributed on YouTube and at www.watchtheguild.com, is a clever look at online gamers but told in a way that appeals to a wider audience. The three-minute episodes are funded entirely by PayPal donations by fans, more than half of which are women. So there, Hollywood digital wannabes. The Guild is a superb example of excellent Web-only content organically grown from the makers’ experience, not manufactured by middle-aged producers trying to look as if they understand digital youth. With over 6 million “hits” (who uses that term anymore?) to its video episodes, this is a genuine online video phenom worth watching both as a model for the platform and as a funny show.

The News Corp. and NBC Universal joint venture for branded video programming, Hulu.com, launches formally on Wed. The ad-supported video site claims partnerships with 50 media companies, 200 premium titles in the library and distribution across MSN, AOL, MySpace and Yahoo. The company has not landed deals with two of the major TV networks, CBS and ABC, both of whom are pursuing their own online TV distribution strategies. While the Hulu.com viewer is very polished and responsive, we are still waiting to see how effective the distribution strategy proves to be. How much will Hulu.com really demand that people return to the Hulu site to watch video, and how eager will these many partners be to promote Hulu.com content over other video alternatives at their own site?

The abrupt crash and burn of Zwick and Herskovitz’s Quarterlife Web series on NBC last week seems to be another indication that Internet video is a bit less than the hype surrounding it. The brutal truth of Web “TV” is that in a decade of trying, the new medium has failed to contribute any substantial video brand to pop culture. Small flashes like VuGuru’s “Prom Queen” serial last year and the oft-mention “lonelygirl15” series serve as nice curios. But we are far away from any real eco-system of advertising and content production for Web video. But beyond that, Quaterlife only calls attention to just how bad much of these programs are. The show’s characters and situations were staggeringly clichéd (film students, aspiring writer, corporate baddies, and the inevitable actress-in-training) all wrapped in the silly conceit of a show that is both on and about a blog. In fact, two of the main characters reprise the Zwick and Herskovitz “thirtysomething” ad agency wannabe duo. Note to programmers. Even self-absorbed Gen-Yers want to see something more from their media than a self-serving mirror.  

Giving users the tools to manipulate and mash-up their own media has always been an iffy proposition. There usually is a gulf between how people say they want to “take control” of their media what they really have the patience or ambition to do online. And so we were curious about the response to SI.com’s Video Mash-Up feature in this year’s Swimsuit site. Users can pick up to four models and then edit together their own custom videos of the clips, even add transitions, filters and graphic overlays and audio. The interface is colorful but involved for a Web application. Surprisingly to us, SI.com tells us that more than 2300 videos have been produced by visitors so far. Perhaps more important is the audience for these user-generated short films. The top two videos have received 13,000 and 11,000 views respectively. When it comes UGC, the 80/20 rule applies. All you need is a core of ambitious media mavens to take the controls and produce the new content, but the audience for this material is multiples larger.