Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Slide Sidles Up to Old Media in Search of New Revenue (Apparently, Max Cannot Live by SuperPoking Alone!)
You almost have to admire the shape-shifting–if not a wee bit slippery–stylings of Slide CEO Max Levchin.
The serial entrepreneur and widget king has signed distribution deals with media giants, such as Time Warner’s Warner Bros. unit, CBS and Comcast’s E! Entertainment channel, to allow users of its FunSpace video service to look at clips from shows.
To make money, Slide will get a cut of ads sold by its media partners.
Oh my, how incredibly traditional of Levchin.
But it should probably come as no surprise that Levchin is now singing a bit of a different tune these days, as the daunting task of actually building a sustainable business model and attracting long-term advertisers has dawned on him and probably many other Web 2.0 wunderkinds.
