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Amanda Congdon debuts at ABC.com

The former Rocketboom anchor is back on the Web video blogging at ABCNews.com.  Amanda Congdon is sporting new headshots and a tight Steely Dan T-shirt as she dishes up a 5 1/2 minute-Rocketboom-like video blog. 
The content is a mixed bag.  Sitting at a desk, tapping keys on an open laptop to the right (look familiar?), Congdon tosses her head and hair (more familiar), and offers one-liners.  She points to some Web sites about snowflakes, reports a few old stories about spam, and invites viewers to send in videos of themselves asking, or answering, questions.  She also mentions her My Space page, where her profile describes Congdon as 59-years-old and a body builder.

The New York Times reports on Amanda's return.  It calls the valley girl-as-news-reader act, "appealing bafflement."

Now, snide remarks about my fellow Northwestern alum aside, I am struck that with weeks of preparation and thought, ABC has put Congdon out there doing the same thing she was doing a year ago.   The “set” looks the same as Rocketboom's.  Her delivery is the same. The material is similar - spotlighting Web sites from hither and thither, and making cute asides. 

Is it possible that ABC’s research (It’s only logical they did some.) shows that Congdon’s developed a persona the audience expects?  (Which the Times suggested is “eek-a-mouse-ing by a news bimbo.”) Either that or the ABC folks did try to recast Congdon, and it didn’t, uh, ‘take’? She planned to do “verified” news.  There’s precious little evidence of that in this inaugural outing.  Maybe they did try and it just didn’t work, so it’s back to type.

New segments will be posted Wednesdays, according to the Amanda page at ABC.

Amanda Congdon to report facts

Amanda Congdon, a veteran of new media, is taking a job in old media. 

The former hostess of Rocketboom has signed on as a part-timer for ABC.  The bulk of her efforts will show up on the ABC News Now video stream with occasional hits on the network's news broadcasts.

Congdon hopes to get her facts straight. "I do want the news show to have a certain amount of integrity," she told Business Week.  "While I will be giving commentary," the 25-year-old actress continued, "this will be information that has been verified."

(Now, THERE's a concept!)

"It isn't going to be something that we throw together and hope the facts are right," she added  "It's ABC News, so it definitely needs to be not false information."  At Rocketboom, Congdon said she did her own fact checking. "At ABC, I will have people to help me."

(I couldn't make this stuff up.)

She's also got a development deal with HBO.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Walt Disney (DIS), which owns ABC, and Time Warner (TWX), which owns HBO.

Rocketboom's ad price: $80K a week

Andrew Baron seems to have shaken off the heartbreak of separation and gotten down to business.  While Amanda Congdon, with whom he co-founded Rocketboom, is on a coast-to-coast trip in a Ford Hybrid, Baron is newly-focused.

Addressing the Saturday session of the Podcast Expo in Ontario, Calif., Baron said he's just done a deal worth $80,000 for a week of commercials in his videoblog.  Claiming a daily audience of some 300,000 people, Baron could be getting more than a $55 CPM for his ads. 

You could get a discount, though. He'll sell you a week of spots for $60,000 - if he likes the commercial content. "Ads should be consistent with the interest of our audience," Baron told the morning keynote audience.  Rocketboom knows its audience and understands what they're interested in, and tailors its content.  An example would be "lifestyle" gadgets, like the new Nokia phone that can download podcasts.  The same should apply to advertising.  That means no ads, for instance, for home cleaning products, though, are out.  "I'm only going to work with advertisers I want to work with," Baron said, "and I'm only going to run ads I like."

Rocketboom has other ways to generate revenue, and Baron said he's going to exploit them, anew.  One is merchandising.  "We really suck at it," pointing out that Rocketboom has almost hidden the link for fans to purchase a T-shirt.  "Yet, we bring in $4,000 a month on that one item," he said in something like amazement.  "There's a lot of potential.  We need lots of shirts, and we ought to put them on the front page."

Baron also raised the possibility of a paid-version of Rocketboom.  Congdon hinted at it last May. Subscribers paying $3.50 a month might have access to outtakes of Rocketboom episodes, lengthier segments and additional shows.  "Imagine if I could get 10,000 people, a tiny fraction of our audience.  That would mean $35,000 a month.  I could have a family and we could all be happy at Rocketboom."

Such a small audience can generate big dollars for Rocketboom.  Baron said big media like the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) will recognize the possibilities.  "Soon, Disney is going to feel confident with an audience of 10,000, hard core, dedicated fans focused on specific content."  And advertisers, he predicted, "will drool over such an audience because it will be so targeted."

Here are my notes from Baron's Saturday speech.  (I am a lousy typist.)

Disclaimer: I own shares of Disney.

Rocketboom's Congdon goes green

When last we heard from Amanda Congdon, aka Rocketboom-girl, she had ankled from Gotham and holed up at her folks' place near Hartford. 

She blogged that she was making deals left and right, and would soon show up on cable, maybe in a real newsroom.  Now, she's leaving home and heading west. 

Driving to L.A. in a Ford (F) Escape Hybrid.  Her road trip is being underwritten by the National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Countdown, and the nation's number 3 car company.  She plans to post videos from along the route.

"I really hope you guys will come with me," she said to the camera in her bedroom, recording a video blog yesterday.  "You are 'the force'.  Come on, interact with me y'all."  Then Amanda went all chirpy and giggly and fell on the floor, jumped up, and exclaimed, "I am just so happy to be back, doing fun things everyday."

Rocketboom sale possible, new shows planned

Breaking up has been hard to do for Andrew Baron.  It's been almost six weeks since Amanda Congdon exited her role as the face of Rocketboom, their jointly-owned video blog.  She said she owns 49% of the venture. It's with the lawyers now. Baron didn't rule out the possibility the business could be sold.  (Think 'archives'.)

Listen to an interview with Rocketboom's Andrew Baron.

"I always have reached out to Amanda to see how she wants to (work things out), but I got a letter from her lawyer yesterday, and we will do whatever is right," Baron said.

Otherwise life is good. The Rocketboom video blog continues to grow.  "Our audience is up about 100,000 in the last month, to about 400,000 a day," Baron said. "We're all very excited."  Congdon's "interim" replacement, Joanne Colan, "totally gets it," Baron said, and a contract is being negotiated for her to stay.

A new advertiser, Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, has signed on. "It's a pretty big deal," Baron said. One of the three commercials will be produced using elements of Second Life. 

While Rocketboom reaches a mass audience, Baron sees his next opportunity in niches.  As an example, he suggests a program to target "high-end tennis players."  It would be natural for Wilson Sporting Goods to advertise tennis racquets and "Viewers might actually be interested in the commercials," Baron said.  He believes that while only 10,000 people might watch, it's so cheap to do Internet video that such programming is economically feasible.

"We're also going to add a business partner," Baron said, explaining the deal for someone to help expand Rocketboom's activities was in the works before Congdon left, which delayed the hiring. "We both approved him, but he got scared after she left."

Amanda Unboomed - Day 26

She said: Amanda Congdon reports uncovering a Rocketboom episode dated July 5 which reports on the Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog eating contest - anchored by Joanne Colan (at left).  Amanda's exit video blog hit the Web July 5th.

She says this is proof Rocketboom's co-founder, Andrew Baron, was well prepared for her departure. "The plan he had all along. All his lies finally bit him in the ass! I wonder how long he had been grooming her face to replace mine."  Enough.  "I'm moving on. I believe this will be my final post about the boom." Amanda spent some of last weekend at the Blogher conference, doing some heavy female bonding.

He said: Conceding that July's production schedule for Rocketboom was a bit inconsistent, Baron said, "Adjustments have been made, spirit has been regained." Also, he announced new advertiser. Rechargeable Recycling Battery Corporation. 

Amanda Unboomed: Day 21

Amanda Congdon has posted a vlog, in the old Rocketboom manner. This one is a family affair, featuring her brother doing the announcing for the episode, "Where Are They Now."

She's got a sense of humor.  Looks great.  Funky pants.

Begins with Congdon at home, doing a pretend newscast in front of a few stuffed dolls while her parents shake their heads in sorrow and say, "She needs a job."  Congdon gets one flipping burgers, but then says "I'm fired!" after the boss refuses to give her 49% of the tips.  "Just move the meat," he says.

Credits for the show include about half a dozen people and ... TA DA, Andrew .... there's an advertiser, a horror-thriller movie opening next week.

Rocketboom traffic up, post-Amanda

Alexa.com reports traffic to Rocketboom is higher now than it was when Amanda Congdon was anchoring the video blog.  The chart (at left) shows peaks when Amanda left the set and when Joanne Colan replaced her behind the desk.

Meanwhile, in a podcast with Business Week , Rocketboom's producer, Andrew Baron didn't say how long Colan would be on the job.  "We just sat down for dinner after the first week and kind of said, 'Whoa, so, who are you?' and got to know each other," he explained. 

Baron sounded like a teenager whose honey blew him off. He made it sound like he'd take her back - as Frank Sinatra sang.

Amanda Unboomed: Day 14

She said:  "I'm still figuring out my long term plans. For now, I can tell you that I am working on an *interim* project with a certain insanely awesome video blogger. We should post it next week."

He said:  "Whatever the case is, it's not a case for Sherlock Holmes and it's not a case for the media, Amanda. It's a case for a professional mediator or a case for the courts."

Rocketboom's headed for a legal battle - ValleyWag

Amanda updated her video "Sayonara" with Japanese subtitles.

Rocketboom's "temp"

Update, 11am:  Thursday's episode is up.  There have been changes to the "home page," - gone are the references to Colan as "interim" and the invitation for Congdon to return.  Things are getting serious, now.

"Rocketboom 2.0 beta" relaunched with "interim" anchor Joanne Colan (pron. KO-lahn).  It's drawn, ahem, mixed reviews. 

Some folks obviously miss Amanda Congdon, and what Valleywag is referring to as her assets.  (See the Reader Poll.)

Imagine, however, you're Ms. Colan.  Just in from Europe (?) or wherever.  She sits in front of the map and does a show.  Meanwhile, the "Rocketboom 2.0 beta" home page says you're here for the "interim." It has an entreaty for Amanda to return anytime, and in your first 60 seconds, your script (probably written by Baron) has you invite Congdon's fans to find her at amandaunboomed.blogspot.com.

Maybe Colan shouldn't sign any long term leases.

Meanwhile, Amanda's talking to Time.com. "10 Questions"  Again, she says Andrew Baron "fired" her, and for now she's living with her parents in Connecticut, sifting through 2,000 e-mails and job offers which are "flooding in."

CNET reports Congdon could return to Rocketboom, she said, if Baron lets her do the show from L.A.  But, she added, "I don't think that we could ever be friends."