Although some analysts are skeptical about the immediate future of TV-style programming for the Net, entertainment heavyweights are turning to the medium as a way to test ideas and distribute content. Animation and short films are especially heating up online. The site will allow users to view short live-action or animation clips, live events, and video on demand, which will last one to six minutes per episode. With investors such as Warner Bros. Online, Seattle-based AtomFilms is gaining ground with its strategy to market short films online as well as offline to television stations and airlines. Since it launched in August, the company says it has delivered 1.5 million video steams per month via the Net.
Short films work well online.
People can fit us in like a digital water cooler break. Atom said today that it plans to sell itself or take itself public next year, according to Bloomberg. After filing to go public in September, three prominent executives abruptly left the company last month, including chairman and founder Marc Collins-Rector and executive vice presidents Chad Shackley and Brock Pierce. The company also is trying to deflect reports that its executives are overpaid compared to those at other Net companies in which stock options outweigh salaries. In terms of financials, I can't comment because we're in our quiet period.