Case Study: No Good TV Won't Be Ignored

Taj says that during No Good Tv’s time in limbo, as it waited for the internet to "get real," the company kept its eye on the ball by staying focused on original content and retaining all rights to that content.

The event that convinced Taj that the internet had finally come of age commercially was what he refers to as the "explosion" of YouTube. "And then all of a sudden content became relevant," he says. "Those that controlled content and owned their own content and had something different really had an opportunity to enter the game in a big way."

Before No Good Tv came full circle back to the internet, it toyed with the idea of pay-per-view. It had, in fact, forged a deal with iN DEMAND Networks that it eventually backed out of. "We had closed the deal, and we were gearing up to make that thing happen, and we realized that that model wasn’t really as strong as we had once thought," says Taj. "And then when we realized that people were finally actually watching stuff on the internet, we realized this is way better. And the main reason it’s so much better is because, at the end of the day, consumers like free.

"And in answer to the question ‘what does the internet give you?’ it gives you freedom. No censorship; you control your own creative vision. There’s nobody that tells you what to do or what to watch. It’s really up to your own moral compass to guide you, from either a consumer’s standpoint or from a producer’s standpoint. How do you beat that? It’s too good. And we’re excited about the advancements. It’s pretty cool and full speed ahead."

The Lure of A-Listers
On the road to success, NGTV also encountered some surprising market forces and fickle audience preferences. For example, Taj says that in the early days he would have been willing to bet that No Good Tv’s stable of "uncensored" music videos would become his company’s most sought-after content.

"I thought initially the music videos were going to be the most powerful lure, but I was wrong. What we have found is that the celebrities, the A-list names, have definitely been the most attractive lure," says Taj. "In some circles, you mention somebody big in the music business like Jay-Z, for example, and people go ‘who?’ But everybody knows who the Hollywood A-listers are. Everybody knows who Will Smith is. Everybody knows who Cameron Diaz is."

Staying Competitive
One potential problem on the horizon for No Good Tv is competition from copycats. With its emphasis on A-list celebrity interviews and programming tied to movie releases, No Good Tv has put itself in a position of dependency on the major Hollywood studios. From the studios they get access to the stars, and they get a great deal of visual content in the form of trailers and clips. What will happen in the future when hundreds of web-based copycats are competing for the same clips and the same access to the A-listers as interviewees?

Taj seems blithely unconcerned about competition and confident about his company’s relationships with the studios. "We don’t necessarily have exclusive arrangements, but to access talent, it takes relationships that have been built over many years. It takes trust. And to be able to bring them into our crazy world takes a level of trust unknown to man. And it has taken a long time for them to realize that we are not there to ambush, we’re not there to hurt anybody, we are just there to have a good time and to help them get their products across. It is a mutual dependence."

For the time being, at least, NGTV has a competitive advantage over other sites by simply having higher-quality production values. "From the beginning we created our product from a broadcast, if not a film, point of view," says Taj. "We are heavy on graphics, we have integration of CG characters, comedy, some scripting, and a thought and a process to a story arc. Most other internet companies, unfortunately, aren’t really doing that. We cut it to broadcast standards, we mix it to broadcast standards, and I think that gives us an edge."

Plus, NGTV is greater than the sum of its parts (its individual programs), says Taj. "The whole way we go about things, our tone and approach, all of these things are very important. And I think our success is always going to be in the subtleties. I think there are a lot of people out there who can be dirty, who can be belligerent, who can be rude, but that’s really not what we are. And, I think, you can copy an idea to a certain degree, but at the end of the day, the tone of that idea and the heart of that idea is what is ultimately going to win."