Acceptable.tv

YouTube 2.0 meets SNL mixed with product placement and a consumer-generated chaser. Acceptable.tv is but one of the next steps in integrated/branded entertainment. Props to the agency who pulled it off. “Hey, what if we take YouTube and have people vote on our SNL-style skits. We’ll have people who can actually write and perform though. (But we’ll also let the public upload their stuff.)” I like the concept. Vote on skits that didn’t suck so they would return next week. On second thought, Lorne Michaels couldn’t do this–nothing would make it through to week two.

Overall, the skits were ok. Jack Black is an executive producer, but his appearance is more for show. Homeless James Bond was good, probably as funny as anything on SNL lately. As for product placement integration, Amp’d Mobile sponsored this week’s show. Not unusal, but what is is that one of the videos they created featured the product openly, almost to the point of absurdity. And I would’ve liked to see a trackback to the show from amp’d’s website, but that’s small.

Coupla two, three things else though.

First, with product placement so openly on display, does it interfere with the skit too much? Mike Meyers did a great spoof on this n Wayne’s World by holding up a series of products while breaking the fourth wall and talking to us about each one. Funny there, but will a steady diet of it here be overkill? Gimmee some entertainment, light on the hardsell, even if it is over-the-top on purpose. Trading Spaces and all the other Lowe’s/Home Depot-sponsored shows on TLC pull this off smoothly.

Secondly, how much has time compressed now with regard
to how far we go back in mining pop culture and media, (such as myspace and YT). Used to be we’d go back 20 years for those funky ‘retro’ references. Now we go back six weeks, if that. Like the kid at Christmas who can’t wait to move on to the next present before opening the one in front of him, have we’ve seemingly replaced YT before it’s reached its full potential? In a way, the show format also compresses the time it takes to measure success. Sitcoms go how long before being judged by ratings, six shows, a full season before changes are made? Here, it’s during the show with people voting online up to three days after.

Another cool thing is that ATV lets you download their clips. Who does that? Copyrighted material on YT is a major problem. People grab a clips with a third-party app or Tivo something and upload it illegally. Here, they’re saying go ahead, download it, mash it up, upload it again. We don’t care. Even though the skits need to be more consistent and the cast looks a little too much alike, a nice template has been set up for brand integration with this thing.

Tags: Jack Black, Acceptable.tv