Hot Damn! My Damn Channel, the HBO for the Internet, Turns Three

Rob Barnett is in a "sleepless snit." Luckily, it's the good kind. He's suffering through sleepless nights because his online video network, My Damn Channel, is celebrating its third anniversary. It announced the winner of its "3some" user-submitted video contest this morning. And his constantly ringing phone may also have something to do with it. "You wouldn't believe the amount and the quality of incoming calls we're receiving from companies that want to work with us," Barnett says in his raspy New York growl. Plus, My Damn Channel recently landed a $4.4 million second round of venture capital and announced an ambitious new programming slate that includes a new season of the Illeana Douglas hit Easy to Assemble and series from comedian and filmmaker Mark Malkoff (Colbert Report) and Will Janowitz (The Sopranos). And there's more on the way. Once Barnett warmed up, we talked about why he left a successful career in old media, how he's earned the "HBO of the Internet" tag, and what's next for him in Web video.

Fast Company: Why did you start My Damn Channel three years ago?

Rob Barnett: I had two tours of duty in radio, and a long stretch in TV, working for MTV and VH-1. I worked in film as well. I decided it was time to stop working for other people. Also, I had been in enough meetings with the kings and queens of media to know that these guys were behind the 8-ball. For the first time, they were late to the picnic. The Internet had the most rebellious energy I'd seen since the punk movement, and yet, they were dismissive of it. I realized that if I got out on my own, I could build something bigger, better, and faster than I could at a traditional media company, even if I had one of those titles like head of new media or head of digital.

FC: How did you decide to do original video for the Internet?

RB: My business partner, co-founder, COO, and smarter half, Warren Chao, did a great analysis of the three doors we could walk through. He's everything I'm not: A lawyer, a former venture capitalist, and business development guy. Number one, we could go the YouTube route, aggregating videos from all over the Web. That didn't seem realistic. Number two, we could repurpose existing video content--what you would now call the Hulu model--but I wasn't sitting on any huge libraries of content. Or number three, we could focus on the creation of the best original content. That made sense to me. I could steal shamelessly from the HBO/Showtime playbook.

FC: People in the Web video world have told me that My Damn Channel is the only one that deserves the "HBO of the Internet" moniker. So what's the playbook?

RB: Work with the best talent. Be selective. Come with the best batting average. Promote the living shit out of everything. It's naïve to throw stuff up online and hope it does well. We will pre-promote shows weeks in advance. It is so much easier to go with established talent who know how to get an audience. Not that we're not going to try other things. That's the benefit of having your own shop. The most popular show we have ever done is called You Suck at Photoshop. These guys were not established. They were two guys from Covington, Kentucky that I met by accident. But their stuff was uniquely geared to this new audience. It had that Web DNA, and the series received more than 20 million views. We may have found the next You Suck at Photoshop guys through this "3some" user-generated contest we did for our third anniversary. We don't normally accept user-generated videos, but I thought, holy shit, we've never even done a contest in three years.

FC: Why do you think you've been successful with branded entertainment?

RB: Because the entertainment comes first, and the brands are our partners. We're introducing brands to the possibilities of Web video every day. The same with ad agencies. It takes time for people to educate themselves. I am not one of these people who bitches about the ad sector. If you compare the Web video world to the evolution of cable television, we're doing fine. Things are moving much quicker. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that fewer people are watching 30-second ads, that banner ads aren't the most engaging form of advertising. More people and advertisers are coming, and we're getting larger by the day.

FC: What other revenue opportunities are out there besides advertising?