The New Media Elite

BY Lynne d JohnsonTue Aug 1, 2006

The Wall Street Journal recently released the New-Media Power List (subscription may be required), which includes a lot of unknowns and amateurs who have used social-networking sites like YouTube and MySpace to become the new media elite. WSJ's John Jurgensen writes:

"As videos, blogs and Web pages created by amateurs remake the entertainment landscape, unknown directors, writers and producers are being catapulted into positions of enormous influence. Each week, about a half-million people download a comedic video podcast featuring a former paralegal. A video by a 30-year-old comedian from Cleveland has now been watched by almost 30 million people, roughly the audience for an average "American Idol" episode. The most popular contributor to the photo site Flickr.com just got a contract to shoot a Toyota ad campaign."

And the winners are:

PODCASTERS

Emmy-Nominated - Orin and Jerry Zucker, It's Jerry Time
Top-Rated - Keith Mallery and Kemda, Keith and The Girl
Top Video Podcast Producer - Jeff Macpherson, Tiki Bar TV
The Web's Anchorwoman - Amanda Congdon, Amanda UnBoomed
Video Podcast Stars - Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, Ask A Ninja
A Teen Hit - Andrew Sims and Ben Schoen, MuggleCast

AMATEUR VIDEO

Most Watched Video on YouTube - Judson Laipply, Evolution of Dance
Crossover Star - Brooke "Brookers" Brodack, myspace.com/brookealley
Top Earners - Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments
Corporate-Sponsored Traveler - Matt Harding, Where the Hell is Matt?

SOCIAL NETWORKING