WebProNews » Joanne Colan

Rocketboom Gets YouTube Sponsorship

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:25:42 +0000

Rocky-historied video blog Rocketboom has a new sponsorship model and a major new sponsor. The first sponsor paying out to associate its name with Ms. Joanne Colan is online video phenom YouTube.

Andrew Baron, Rocketboom’s founder, announced the new model and sponsor on his blog. Companies can buy a simple text frame (reminiscent of the old "brought to you by" announcements on daytime television) that says "This Episode Sponsored by".

And that’ll run you about $3000 a pop. It raises to $5000 after September.

Baron also has set up a Rocketboom channel on YouTube, where you can make yourself with all that Joanne (and maybe some Amanda, too, but I didn’t look that far.)

What was most interesting about Baron’s blog post was a short history detailing how much the site struggled in the beginning and about how difficult it was to keep the show afloat.

He writes:

Just over a year ago, we ran out money for Rocketboom. We were not mature enough to consider investments and so I decided Rocketboom had to go forward with an E-bay auction….

I’ll never forget the fear of failure that buit up to 5 seconds before the auction ended a loser, followed by a final refresh click with just 2 seconds to go that suddenly showed a $40,000 winner. To this day, I had never publicized that $40,000 was actually our reserve, helping to set the high market value.

Rocketboom 2.0 Delayed, Fans Lash Out

WebProNews Staff — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:24:31 +0000

Rocketboom fans have been hanging on for the next boom since Amanda Congdon’s dramatic unbooming. The next incarnation is now two days late as the world awaits how the new hostess will handle her duties, and to see if Rocketboom 2.0 will reach liftoff.

Andrew Baron did some fancy footwork in the aftermath of Congdon’s surprise announcement that she was leaving the show to procure former MTV Europe hottie Joanne Colan. After all, you can’t replace a hottie with a not-a-hottie – especially since many had attributed Rocketboom’s success solely to Congdon.

Rocketboom’s dirge was sung throughout the blogosphere upon the announcement as Congdon and Baron kicked the buck back and forth. Whether she was fired or she quit no longer matters, it’s all about what happens next.

And so far, what happens next isnothing. Colan was expected to make her Rocketboom debut Monday morning at 9 AM. Monday came and went with no maiden broadcast and eager fans were met with acknowledgement of the delay and an expectation a Tuesday morning launch.

Meanwhile, Baron reminds the public on his blog how much of the show’s production sits squarely on his shoulders:

Fact: Out of all the scripts in the history of Rocketboom Amanda has edited nearly every single one, but over 95% of the scripts on Rocketboom have been written by me.

Fact: Over 95% of the directed episodes in the history of Rocketboom were directed by me.

Fact: I created/incorporated and directed/developed many of the reoccurring conventions of the show such as the clicker, the head turns, the paper throws, the chair spins, etc.

Fact: I have edited well over 50% of all of the episodes.

Fact: I have Produced every single episode.

Fact: I have Published every single episode.

Fact: I have found/picked over 90% of all of the stories that we have ever used.

What was Congdon doing as Baron boasted? She was being interviewed on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, possibly with a little placement by her new agent over at Endeavor.

Tuesday morning yawned and opened its eyes to a Rocketboom.com server error screen. The world continues to tolerate a “coming soon” update, and finally, after 9AM was long gone, a note from Baron confessing that Congdon may have been a larger part of the show than he had acknowledged:

Rocketboom was obviously very dependent on Amanda’s role. Since she left so suddenly, I have tried to get the episodes up and running as soon as possible, though I am not comfortable with the way they are going yet.

It’s easy enough to recreate the same thing, the challenge here is to do the next.

If you ever looked to the archives, you may have noticed that there is one episode that has always been missing: the first episode. There is a reason why.

The first thought for some is that it is part of a larger publicity grab, but the web-opera has already attracted perhaps more publicity than Baron could have imagined. A delay at this point is just embarrassing, not suspense.

And what of Joanne Colan? Very little so far. Colan has acknowledged her new position by setting up a weblog where she officially titles herself “Host of Rocketboom.com.”

A delay is not a death sentence, at least not yet. But if there are enough diehard Congdon fans like the anonymous commentators on Colan’s blog, then the show could be in trouble indeed. These commentators not only have vowed their allegiance to Congdon in the first comments Colan will ever receive, but have even criticized her for being British.

your british ya know with amanda she is american so she can say what she wants but your a foreigner so your comments will just come off as elitist critisism that you have no place saying. oh and one last thing i hope you know that you may call yourself the hostess of RB but i think most everyone on the internet will agree with me that that title shall forever be amanda congdon’s.

Ouch. Good thing that comment was anonymous. A few tips: watch your homophones and run-ons; run a spell check; look into punctuation; and speak for yourself. British girls are sexy.

The majority of the commentators thereafter were taken aback by those comments, and have at least wished the new host luck while promising to give her a chance to make her mark.

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Congdon Replaced By English Accent

WebProNews Staff — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:36:53 +0000

How will Rocketboom’s Andrew Baron replace his vamoosing attractive, smart, witty, and charming anchor Amanda Congdon? The space in front of the upside down map of the world will be filled by an attractive, smart, witty, and charming anchorwoman with a British accent. So, ha!

Huffington Post’s “Eat the Press” provides the inside scoop that Congdon will be replaced with former MTV Europe VJ Joanne Colan.

Colan was expected to make her maiden Rocketboom broadcast Monday at 9 AM, less than a week after Congdon’s sudden and perplexing exodus.

Though it appears that the broadcast from the “interim” host has been delayed, or operating on West Coast time, as Colan’s vlog report has yet to appear.

“In addition to being a fetching blonde,” writes Rachel Sklar, “Colan is also ‘smart and funny,’ and brings to the show and the added credibility of an English accent.”

Because we know, “wubba wubba wubba‘ would sound stupid if an American said it.

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