Terra Nova cancelled, can prime time Sci-Fi work today?

So much potential, so little talent... in ad sales

Terra Nova cancelled

I don't see how an ad sales person worth their salt cannot sell enough ads to the Sci-Fi fantasy audience to make a show like this work.  This audience is skewed young, technically savy, gadget addicted, and with ample disposable income and / or a willingness to spend their limited income on all manner of stuff, even in a down economy.  There are so few quality Sci-Fi shows and such a dedicated audience with money to spend.  A show like this should also have appeal on new distribution channels like Hulu.com and Amazon.com instant video allowing them to reach an even greater, world wide, audience on the internet... on the cheap.  On the high end you have internet connected smart televisions and on the lower end you have Roku.  These options offer the chance for highly targeted ads.  I don't understand why this total package can't be made to work.
I am left to contrast this seeming failure with the building momentum in new media networks like TWiT and Revision3. This is about momentum, as the ad spend in this space is not even a fraction of that of prime time television, but these new media networks are growing in a space with low margins, small, niche audiences, and offering essentially, slightly higher production value podcasts. They are able to attract and grow a loyal audience, even though some of the shows amount to little more than long form advertising for tech gear, granted, these shows are much more enjoyable to watch than their equivalent light night, paid advertising programs. These networks embrace their audiences in all their "Geekdom." Somebody will eventually figure out how to similarly embrace and attract the Sci-Fi audience and will be rewarded with a long running Star Trek, Star Wars, or Dr. Who type franchise that will mint money for generations.  By all rights this should be one of the big networks, but the current climate requires immediate hits, or reality TV level, low production costs.  Today a new show doesn't have time to find it's audience or give the ad sales team time to figure out how to sell ads to that audience. 


Enter new media networks who don't have to please everyone, just a niche audience. There is a significant overlap between the technical podcast watching, new media audience, and the Sci-Fi audience (see this podcast, or sword and laser).  I predict we will soon see new media companies start the new and "really independent" online film and TV space. As their profits grow along side their frustrations at the lack of quality Sci-Fi fantasy media content, some new media company will take up a fan fiction level show, increase the production value, please it's base, acquire a following, and grow it into a cash cow.  


P.S.  I say send your ideas to Leo LaPorte because he is a Sci-Fi reader and between him and Steve Gibson, they could spot a good story, his TWiT network is experiencing great organic growth, and sometimes he favors George Lucas.

Apple and Microsoft validate Google's "Cloud First" strategy

Here's one that can be put in the category of unintended consequences: Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's Azure offerings validate a Google, "Cloud First" strategy.  This was the thought that popped in my head as I listened to commentators, Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley discuss Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's Windows 8 Azure backed features on the TWiT network's Windows Weekly podcast.  This was not the topic of discussion, but featured prominently in that discussion,was talk of the features added by each company that leveraged their  cloud services.  Without saying it explicitly, both these companies acknowledged that Google's cloud first approach is the future, or at a minimum is very important.  Both iCloud and Azure represent "significant" investments on the part of Apple and Microsoft.  These investments are rumored to be in the billions of dollars.  Neither company would spend this kind of money and risk cannibalization of their current offerings if they did not think a cloud first, or cloud based desktop, was a valid strategy (or a competitive threat).  Google's advantage in a cloud first future is that all Google's applications are built on this model from the ground up.  Google's applications do not require "cloud extensions" or "new" cloud services.  There is no desktop iTunes client or Office application that needs to be updated to support the cloud.  Google applications are in the cloud now, and as the saying goes, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Apple and Microsoft are rushing to match or surpass applications like Google Docs, GMail, Google Music, and others.  The upside for consumers is better online applications.  The upside for Google is it legitimizes their "cloud first" strategy.