Rocketboom flameout

The Blogosphere is going nuts over this he said-she said Rocketboom story. 

Executive summary:  In 2004, Amanda Congdon (hot! hot! hot!) and Andrew Baron (nerdy and annoying) start a video blog called Rocketboom, on the cheap, in New York.  Until Friday, Rocketboom was delivering 250K downloads of each episode and charging advertisers as much as $20,000 a day. Now, Amanda Congdon says the partnership is pfffft.  Job offers to Congdon arrive over the Internet.  Baron says the show will go on. Rocketboom will be back July 10.

Memeorandum this morning listed 68 blog posts about the story. Jason(1) Calacanis(2)  and Robert(1) Scoble(2) think Amanda's exit is so big they've posted about it several times.

All this is piling on for link popularity.  Bloggers want to get read. Me, too. And writing about what people want to read ... well, 2+2.  And just like on TV, stories with sex appeal (like Amanda) get attention.  (Think the Nancy Grace and Rita Cosby shows.)

Some bloggers seem to think Amanda is a superstar, sent from above to lead them to mass media dominance; that she is some sort of unbelievable star-quality talent who had been overlooked overlooked by the establishment. Ergo, her departure from the small screen was some kind of conspiracy by old media to castrate video blogging. They should sober up.

On the Internet, where no one knows you're a dog, the standards for pretend-broadcasts really are lower.  Some podcasts by tech experts and even brand-name magazines are unlistenable because the audio quality is terrible.  Never mind the slurring, wannabe radio types who can't ask a question in less than 30 seconds. (E-mail if you want a list.)

Remember Ana Marie Cox?  She was an "it" girl, too.  The original Wonkette had a shot in front of the cable TV lights during the 2004 Democratic convention.  She was terrible. Halting and stiff, a sideshow.  Maybe two segments, and she was gonzo. As an individual performer, expected to meet the audience’s "old media" expectations, she missed. It's not that she doesn't have something to say. Joe Scarborough at MSNBC thinks she's got plenty to add, but as a talking head.

The Internet has clearly lowered the bar.  Chris Anderson describes one benefit of that. Amanda Congdon also benefited.  Because she is a slightly better performer than many others in the Web media mosh pit, she stands out. Amanda is markedly better looking than some other vloggers (Scoble's got a list of them here), but I can't say she's smarter, a better writer, a better reporter, or a more savvy performerI think she would agree she's no God's gift to journalism, nor is she fighting for "truth, justice, and all that stuff."  Take a look at this publicity shot.

Congdon misses as a TV anchor.  The eyes can be a little scary, the hand movements (slapping a pretend keyboard-video switcher) are extreme, and who knows if she can talk without a script?  Or write one.  She's cute, but in the real media world where I come from, she's small market acceptable. 

But on the Internet, she's not a dog.

Comments

[Will Cate]

My guess is that Amanda aspires to be an actress more than an anchor. That's the type of work she was looking for when she hooked up with Andrew. But even if Andrew didn't actually tell her to take a hike (as she claims), it matters not: for most folks, Amanda *was* Rocketboom. Stick a fork in RB; it's DONE.

[Jesse Tian]

Note how extreme popular Amanda Congdon is among overweighted and grey bearded white men. By the way, I didn't like her highschool acting and Rocketboom very much either.

[David Porter]

Rocket Boom, to me, was a big yawn. It was interesting to see the technology at first, but after that...YAWN.

Next subject?

[McD]

Hello... $20,000 a day! If there are 200 shows isn't that $4M in top line revenue?

Andrew and Amanda built a business producing a $4M run rate without incurring any debt and new he thinks she is fired. She still has 49% of whatever he can put out by July 10th even if she's not involved otherwise the back catalog of shows should be subjected to a legal process of negotiated settlement.

Most marriages don't create $4M is value but they still use lawyers to negotiate a settlement of the shared assets.

I expect both Andrew and Amanda to do well in this new media outlet. Andrew just needs to select new talent and Amanda needs a bit of technical support building a web service and selling advertising.

[anonymous]

By the way, you're $20,000 per day is *completely wrong*. Rocketboom got that price once for a week's worth of commercials they produced themselves. Then Earthlink came in with another price lower than that for another week. Baron didn't even have a business plan.

[pt]

"charging advertisers *as much as* $20,000 a day."

"you're $20,000 per day is *completely wrong*. Rocketboom got that price once "

um, if they got that price once, it's not wrong to say they 'charged advertisers as much as $20,000 a day.' You say it's *completely wrong* and then prove it's right in the next sentence. nice.

[Frank Barnako]

$20,000 a day wrong? Nope, look at the rate card. http://www.rocketboom.com/sponsorship/

[Rogers Cadenhead]

They should have just cancelled The Daily Show the day Craig Kilborn left.

[Kent Bye]

Sorry -- I re-read what you said:
"each episode and charging advertisers as much as $20,000 a day."

Yes, technically this is correct -- but it gives the false impression that they were raking it in. They ever only sold two weeks worth of commercials to TRM and Earthlink.

This from Chuck Olsen:
http://blogumentary.typepad.com/chuck/2006/07/bizweek_on_rock.html

"This may shock a lot of people who falsely thought Rocketboom was pulling in $85,000/week, an off-the-cuff remark from Scoble. That is the highest number on the Rocketboom ad chart, but that doesn't mean they're reeling it in. It's a huge potential energy in need of a business partner to convert into kinetic monetary energy."

[MrMcG]

Congdon a hottie? You must be having a laugh. That or you don't get out much.

She attracts interest from the geeks because she looks like a girl; blonde, blue eyes, breasts.

Frankly, I could care less how she looks, but what I find truly shocking is that anyone (much less the thousands of losers with nothing better to do) can abide her annoying, middle school-level buffoonery. I guess I am the only one with this opinion, but she is horrible, insufferable, and if there is a God, her visage will never again pass before my eyeballs.

Amanda Congdon, please, please, just go away.