Current Media Revising Strategy, Moving Away From Short-Form and Daily In-House Production

Kinda old but eh.
-E.B. Boyd on Nov 11, 2009: Current Media is revising its strategy. Less short-form video. Less in-house production. More 30- and 60-minute shows. More acquisition of shows from outside companies.

Chief Operating Officer Joanna Drake Earl told BayNewser that the company's fundamental mission hasn't changed. They still want to create engaging and impactful content for young adults. But the moves, says a statement released by the company, are about allocating resources to "areas of the business believed to best position Current Media for continued long-term growth."

As a result of the changes, 80 people are being let go today from the company's offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. About 300 people will remain on staff, Earl said.

Also on the chopping block, three Current shows: "Current Tonight," "Current Takeover," and "Current Exposed." Four other core shows—"Vanguard", "infoMania", "Rotten Tomatoes", and "SuperNews!"—are not affected.

Earl stressed that, unlike the kind end-of-year restructurings often witnessed at other media companies, the Current layoffs were not cost-cutting measures. The company is on track to post its most profitable year yet, she said. Rather, the changes were the result of a strategy review that coincided with the hiring three months ago of new CEO Mark Rosenthal.

More, after the jump, including Current's statement.



The Al Gore- and Joel Hyatt-founded network burst on to the scene in 2005 with an innovative approach to creating TV content: Users would create three- to seven-minute clips, called "pods", which would then be voted on online by other users, with the best going on air.

Four years later, however, "we have learned that short-form content is not the best to drive audiences and engage large audiences on television," Earl said.

But, she told us, Current still intends to continue the practice of collaborating with their audience to create content.

"We are as committed as ever to be producing programming with and for our young-adult audience that is innovative and entertaining and builds a big audience and has a big impact," she said.

"We want to continue to innovate on ways to involve our audience in the creation of our programming and [create] unique ways for them to interact with our programming," Earl said. The company has "some unique projects underway," she said, but declined to give details.

As a result of the changes, in-house production is being consolidated in the company's Los Angeles offices. San Francisco remains the company's headquarters and the home of its Web team.

Current Media statement

Current Media has made changes to its organization, most notably in the area of television programming. Current will be shifting away from short-form programming and daily in-house production and towards proven 30-60 minute formats from a multitude of sources, including acquisitions, co-productions, outside studios, as well as Current developed and produced content.

With this change, Current made the difficult yet necessary decision to eliminate certain daily, weekly, and non-regularly scheduled programs, including "Current Tonight," "Current Takeover" and "Current Exposed."

As a result of these cancelations, and the shift away from a reliance on daily in-house production, Current Media eliminated 80 positions worldwide associated with the affected programs and related support personnel in the company.

This re-organization was not the result of a need to cut costs. Current Media will have its most profitable year. This financial stability will allow the company to re-allocate resources in order to put further emphasis on areas of the business believed to best position Current Media for continued long-term growth. Part of this investment will be the immediate creation of new executive positions, and teams in p