Jim Gaffigan performing in May 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
"I was watching Animal Planet and did you know that the male seahorse has the baby? And I was thinking, "Why don't they just call that the female seahorse?""
That line was from Jim Gaffigan. And today is a scary day for the comedian.
Today he's releasing his newest, 75 minute performance to the public, called Mr. Universe. But it's not a typical release. There's no DVD. It's all online.
Years ago comedians didn't have these choices. The big names, like Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby and Redd Foxx would have their performances recorded, mixed and sold as records. Or cassette or 8-track tapes. Although TV helped comedians reach a wider audience, the bread and butter of their earnings still came from their concert performances and record sales. Even as the technology changed, the products were still pretty much the same: records and tapes turned into videos which turned into DVDs. All made by production companies who then paid the performer a royalty.
But recently, technology taken a huge jump forward. A jump that affects not only comedians like Jim Gaffigan, but anyone who produces content that they want to mass deliver to a large audience. For many of us, this is intimidating. We don't want to miss the boat. Gaffigan is by no means a technology guy. He spends his time thinking up things like "why doesn't every fortune cookie say 'you're about to eat a stale cookie?'"
And Gaffigan, like most comedians, does not consider himself to be a business person either. Like many entrepreneurs, he has little desire to be rich and famous. All he wants to do is create great content and deliver that content to as many people as possible who enjoy it. He's unable to do this for free, so of course he's going to try and earn the best living that he can doing it. To accomplish this he must create a business. And he has to use technology. So he has. And he does.
Enter Google. And this little interview that ran last week with Google Engineering Director Chee Chew.
Chew seemed to be caught between sessions at a conference, so the video quality is not great. In fact, you can skip the first three and a half minutes. But then pay special attention. That's when Chew talks about Google+ Hangouts. More particularly what they call Hangouts "On Air."
For those of you not familiar with Google+ it's Google's own social networking community which competes (and currently struggles) against Facebook. The company's intention is to entice many of its hundreds of zillions of daily visitors away from Facebook into Google's community. Social media pundit Chris Brogan thinks the platform will ultimately be a hit, saying recently: " I'm nuts about Google+. (It's) the next big thing. (And I don't make such predictions lightly.) Why? The platform is more than just a boon for networking and marketing–you can also put it to work to boost your revenues, online and off."
A big part of Google + is Google + Hangouts, which is nothing more than their video chat service. Nothing more…for now. For now, up to nine users can chat with each other like Skype or iChat. But that's about to change. In a big way. With Hangouts On Air. Chee Chew hinted at bigger plans. And these plans will affect entrepreneurs like Jim Gaffigan.
"There is the vegetarian Hot Pocket for those of us who don't want to eat meat, but would still like diarrhea."
Think that's funny? I think it's hilarious! And today I can get more of it.
That's because today I can take advantage of the newest innovation for distributing content: I'll be able to download or stream new material from one of my favorite comedians. That's what Gaffigan is doing. Following in the footsteps of recent successful releases by other comedians like Louis CK and Aziz Ansari, Gaffigan's 993,000 Twitter followers and anyone else can pay just five bucks to download his latest offering and watch it whenever and wherever they want. At a third of the cost of the CDs he's betting that even more of his fans will prefer to watch him say things like "I come from a very big family… nine parents".
And make no mistake…it's a big bet. Gaffigan told me that he's invested around a quarter of a million bucks to make this video. Of his own money. He paid for his own production team. He hired public relations people and other marketing experts to assist him in getting the word out. He hired consultants and developers to create a download process that's easy as possible because that's what everyone has told him to do: make it as easy as possible for a fan to buy his product. And even though the cost is a third of what someone would pay for a DVD and more content is provided, Gaffigan is still very sensitive about providing as much value as possible. He's even giving away a dollar for each purchase to support the Bob Woodruff Foundation.
And now…he sits back and waits. Will he get his money back? Will fans embrace this new medium? Will he lose his shirt? Should he have done more research? Should he have included bacon? Should he have had a better marketing plan? Will the technology work as promised? Anyone who's introduced a new product has had the same fears. Well, almost. Especially when it's something they've never tried before.
And already, this new method is about to become obsolete. Thanks to Google + Hangouts. Because soon…Google + will allow it's members to broadcast their content via their Hangouts On Air platform to an unlimited audience…not just nine people. In other words, Google + Hangouts will become everyone's own individualized TV station. Anyone can tune in.
And once again, content providers like Jim Gaffigan are going to have to adjust. Because, like the record albums, cassette tapes and DVDs of yore, the "video download" technology that he's using today will soon be old hat. Corporate trainers, presenters, meeting planners, salespeople, and yes…comedians will be forced to adopt this new technology if they want to keep themselves fresh and stay close to their audiences.
Thanks to Hangouts On Air Gaffigan's next product will be different. I predict that he will stream a live show online to his Google+ followers. Using the developer's tools that Chew talks about in the video above, he'll have a programmer create a custom interface for the show. Maybe he'll stream the show for free. Why not? Other than today's streaming technology, it doesn't cost him anything! Maybe he'll sell advertising time. Maybe he'll charge a buck. Maybe he'll simultaneously record the show and make it available for re-streaming for a reasonable fee.
Maybe Gaffigan will cut back his concert schedule too. Instead of just tweeting jokes like "The good news is that I just a jellybean I found on the ground of our apartement. The bad news is it was a tiny ball of Play Doh" or posting little videos of his concert performances he stays at home with his wife and four kids and broadcasts his comedy from the den.
Gaffigan has millions of fans. And, just like today's readers of the news, they all prefer to get his comedy in different ways. I'm no metrics expert, but I have no doubt that the Mr. Universe download that he's making available today will be a success. He will probably sell hundreds of thousands of downloads. But there's no guarantee. A lot of work and money and resources and time and angst went into this. And, like any professional, he will probably feel like he's still not getting his beloved product out to as many people as he would like.
Google is about to change this for him. And for anyone else that's looking to broadcast their content to a large audience.
Besides Forbes, Gene Marks writes weekly for The New York Times and The Huffington Post.
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