My Internet travels today brought me across an interesting site called The Syndicate. It’s not a site, so much as it is an advertising network – one that dubs itself “The Web’s Most Influential Blog Sponsorship Network.”
Basically, The Syndicate is a collection of 11 individual blogs written by assorted bloggers who attract an audience of creative professionals. They’ve teamed up to offer sponsors a chance to reach all of their collective audiences in a way that the sponsor’s message is integrated into the natural flow of text on the site (as opposed to the usual sidebar ads that most readers ignore).
By now you’re probably wondering what this has to with comedy? Essentially, nothing. But I actually think it’s a model that could work very well for comedians.
I think a group of comedians (either on a local or national level) could easily team up with each other to cross promote and monetize their personal websites, videos, or podcasts. Most comedians don’t have enough scale to monetize on their own, but by building an informal network with other comedians who reach a similar audience, there’s a much better chance to attract sponsorship.
Plus, just like the Syndicate’s bloggers do, even having an informal connection to other comedians would benefit all members of the group through increased cross promotion.
Of course to put this together would take some time, effort, and initiative – and that’s why most of you probably won’t give it any serious thought. But for those of you that aren’t scared of a little work without a microphone, I really do think there’s a great opportunity here.
Do you agree?
I had a similar idea a few years ago and, surprisingly, never acted on it. My only difference was to have all the comedians in different locations, so any comedian coming to Duluth would go to the guy in the Comedy Syndicate to talk about getting on shows, housing, transportation, etc. Basically build local comedy circuits around one individual person; good for the individual, good for the group. The original idea also involved points and badges, but I think that’s a little passe’ don’t you?
Your article is great. I’ve been saying the same thing for years. Then I helped organize a similar group of people in the Nerd community here in Toronto, it’s been growing every meeting and it helps get the word out on everyones projects
http://thenerdmafia.com/main/
I think that can work.
We’re trying something similar in st.louis. The scene is really growing here and instead of keeping everything fragmented, we’re making an effort to galvanize all of the open-micers and collectively promote local comedy..
Comics working together is the only way we can improve our industry and take it back from exploitive bookers and clubs.