The video blog, Wallstrip, which describes itself as “stock culture meets pop culture”, has been acquired by CBS. The price is unknown, but CBS has denied it’s 5 million dollars as was first reported by the gossip blog, Jossip. At the time is was suggested that the main attraction for CBS was securing the services of the shows dynamic host, Lindsay Campbell, who was to become the new face for the studios online video initiatives.
That’s not the case says NewTeeVee. The deal is just as much about the talent behind the camera:
Wallstrip creator Howard Lindzon said CBS bought the show in part because of its “web 2.0″ attitude towards widely syndicating and distributing its video… “Quincy wants to be everywhere,” he said, meaning Quincy Smith, CBS’ dealmaker and the initiator of the Wallstrip purchase. The team will be part of CBSNews.com, helping out with its video projects.
In other words, the deal should be viewed as an acquisition of a production company, rather than a single show. CBS clearly hopes to leverage what the Wallstrip team have learnt from their online video experiments, as well as harness the team’s ability to put out very cost effective content, with a distribution model that embraces the distributed nature of the net.
On a personal note, I count myself as a fan of the show. I’m not really all that interested in the stock market, but Wallstrip does a good job of explaining the cultural phenomena behind market success stories (and in an entertaining way), such as how Apple positions itself as a lifestyle company, and why people go crazy over Nike.
Congrats Wallstrip!
(If you’re new to the show, check out the announcement episode.)
