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Posted

The channel completely defies convention. The programming defies conventions. A lot are documentary based and cultural exposes. Their only commercials are for their own channel. I'm not exactly sure how they generate revenue because it's not from advertisement. They have a hilarious commercial where they ask a handful of black and white women how they feel in a store when someone asks "can I help you?" The juxtaposition is priceless. And they play voicemails of what people call in to say about the channel.

 

"Black market" is a really good show. "Vice does America," and "Vice Essentials" are too. I need programming like this especially since all the previously respectable channels have sold out to scripted reality tv and social-media driven drivel (looking at you History channel).

 

Anyway, just passing this along.

Posted

Viceland (which started in Canada and is headed by Shane Smith) is owned by the same folks who own History channel (A&E -- owned by Disney & Hearst... that's right, the channel with a show titled "F*k that's delicious" is owned by the two biggest family friendly media conglomerates in the world). The new channel is their bold attempt to move from the digital world into the "major leagues" of TV because that's where the money is. Scale is in the digital platforms, money is made in TV. In short, they're hoping to build a new MTV for millennial males -- a channel everyone has to watch. It's a bold strategy because TV has been the medium millennial males have ignored for almost a decade now but every big network and cable outlet is trying to find a way to change that paradigm. Disney and Hearts have invested big money into Vice hoping they have the magic formula.

 

Vice makes its money through subscription fees and Vice's existing deals with HBO, their magazine, and their 30+ oversea TV deals, plus the commercials you mentioned that don't really look like commercials. They're actually blended content designed in house by Vice's creative departments. They're still commercials (pushing a product) but they're done within Vice's own vignettes -- which is what they do online as well. They're bringing the kind of blended advertisements and product placements they invented on the digital platforms into the TV landscape (to me, because I'm a nerd, this is the most interesting part of the Viceland experiment) in the hopes of changing how advertisement works on TV.

 

Side note for the movie fans out there. Spike Jonze (actor and director of movies like HER) is the co-president and creative director of Viceland.

Posted

Viceland (which started in Canada and is headed by Shane Smith) is owned by the same folks who own History channel (A&E -- owned by Disney & Hearst... that's right, the channel with a show titled "F*k that's delicious" is owned by the two biggest family friendly media conglomerates in the world). The new channel is their bold attempt to move from the digital world into the "major leagues" of TV because that's where the money is. Scale is in the digital platforms, money is made in TV. In short, they're hoping to build a new MTV for millennial males -- a channel everyone has to watch. It's a bold strategy because TV has been the medium millennial males have ignored for almost a decade now but every big network and cable outlet is trying to find a way to change that paradigm. Disney and Hearts have invested big money into Vice hoping they have the magic formula.

 

Vice makes its money through subscription fees and Vice's existing deals with HBO, their magazine, and their 30+ oversea TV deals, plus the commercials you mentioned that don't really look like commercials. They're actually blended content designed in house by Vice's creative departments. They're still commercials (pushing a product) but they're done within Vice's own vignettes -- which is what they do online as well. They're bringing the kind of blended advertisements and product placements they invented on the digital platforms into the TV landscape (to me, because I'm a nerd, this is the most interesting part of the Viceland experiment) in the hopes of changing how advertisement works on TV.

 

Side note for the movie fans out there. Spike Jonze (actor and director of movies like HER) is the co-president and creative director of Viceland.

Good info; thank you.

 

I didn't know any of that. I know that the channel is only a few months old on the traditional television medium. I just became enthralled with the "Black Market" show one evening. And found that I seldom changed the channel because the overall content is pretty damn good. Hopefully it has staying power and doesn't sell out programming for ad revenue.

Posted

Good info; thank you.

 

I didn't know any of that. I know that the channel is only a few months old on the traditional television medium. I just became enthralled with the "Black Market" show one evening. And found that I seldom changed the channel because the overall content is pretty damn good. Hopefully it has staying power and doesn't sell out programming for ad revenue.

 

I'm with you on this. Vice is my default channel when not looking to watch anything specific and I record and watch many of the series. It is a very different perspective than what you normally see on TV. I record and watch the HBO series but not as big a fan. The content is good but I simply can't listen to Shane Smith. The worst narrator in the history of tv narrators.

Posted (edited)

The channel completely defies convention. The programming defies conventions. A lot are documentary based and cultural exposes. Their only commercials are for their own channel. I'm not exactly sure how they generate revenue because it's not from advertisement. They have a hilarious commercial where they ask a handful of black and white women how they feel in a store when someone asks "can I help you?" The juxtaposition is priceless. And they play voicemails of what people call in to say about the channel.

 

"Black market" is a really good show. "Vice does America," and "Vice Essentials" are too. I need programming like this especially since all the previously respectable channels have sold out to scripted reality tv and social-media driven drivel (looking at you History channel).

 

Anyway, just passing this along.

 

such as?

Edited by Buffalo Barbarian
Posted

I loved Vice until I found out a few years ago that Shane Smith is a borderline pathological liar. His whole background is fiction. He didn't work for Reuters, he wasn't a freelance war journalist, and Vice wasn't in over 100 countries or whatever his boast was. I still enjoy their programming, but its harder for me to watch knowing what I know now.

 

I first got wind of Vice from a friend about 6 years ago and watched every it of content they had on Youtube. You start to notice the trend where they suddenly have to leave and never seem to find anything that damning. Although their Liberia episodes are first rate. Hitman in Karachi is also fantastic.

Posted

I loved Vice until I found out a few years ago that Shane Smith is a borderline pathological liar. His whole background is fiction. He didn't work for Reuters, he wasn't a freelance war journalist, and Vice wasn't in over 100 countries or whatever his boast was. I still enjoy their programming, but its harder for me to watch knowing what I know now.

 

I first got wind of Vice from a friend about 6 years ago and watched every it of content they had on Youtube. You start to notice the trend where they suddenly have to leave and never seem to find anything that damning. Although their Liberia episodes are first rate. Hitman in Karachi is also fantastic.

 

Wow! Never knew that backstory. I usually watch it because of the interesting subject matter. I wonder if Smith has ever been flat out accused of plagiarism? Based on his inflated ego...

Posted

I loved Vice until I found out a few years ago that Shane Smith is a borderline pathological liar. His whole background is fiction. He didn't work for Reuters, he wasn't a freelance war journalist, and Vice wasn't in over 100 countries or whatever his boast was. I still enjoy their programming, but its harder for me to watch knowing what I know now.

 

I first got wind of Vice from a friend about 6 years ago and watched every it of content they had on Youtube. You start to notice the trend where they suddenly have to leave and never seem to find anything that damning. Although their Liberia episodes are first rate. Hitman in Karachi is also fantastic.

 

Now....I don't feel so bad......for hating his narrative style. :thumbsup:

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