Best Web Play
Gold
THE PLAYER: Scripps Networks Interactive
With nets like HGTV and Food Network, Scripps may not seem like the most likely winner of a category that honors tech geekdom. But don't let that homespun branding thing fool ya. Scripps Networks Interactive has got it going on in the broadband department. Fans can access myriad clips and special how-to segments based on their favorite shows, and record-breaking 2006 traffic was up 40% over 2005. Meanwhile, a sleek Scripps Media Player and lots of online content choices keeps 'em coming back for more. Of course, Scripps Networks Interactive doesn't just run itself. Execs like Ron Feinbaum (svp/gm), Beth Higbee (svp) and Jim Sexton (svp) have worked together to make Scripps a surprisingly strong player online. We're impressed!
Silver
FUNNY BONE: Turner's Comedy Sites
With so many “underground” video and social-networking sites out there... you know, the ones not working for “the man”... it's not easy for a bonafide media giant like Turner to create cool, standalone Web communities that don't reek of corporate-ness. But with www.superdeluxe.com and www.veryfunnyads.com, Turner just may have done it. SuperDeluxe went live in mid-Jan and quickly attracted more than 1mln unique users of its MySpace-like community for comedians. VeryFunnyAds launched with TBS's "World's Funniest Videos" special and has been serving up 10s of millions of views ever since. Turner is carving out its own comedy niche.
Bronze
ATTACK OF THE HAIR: GSN's Online Games
When GSN chief Rich Cronin showed television critics in Pasadena the net's Donald Trump-vs-Rosie O'Donnell online video game featuring the Donald's hair and Rosie's tongue as lethal weapons, well... we started to wonder whether GSN was on to something. After all, what better way to get those eyeballs to your site than to create the goofiest, ripped-from-the-trashy-headlines game concepts imaginable and then let the Web's viral nature take over? Here's just a sampling of GSN's other games designed for our pop-culture-obsessed nation: “Astronaut Moonstalker” in which a jilted female astronaut must break up a rival lovefest on the moon; “Throw the Book at O.J.” in which you must pelt O.J. Simpson with copies of his recently cancelled book while dodging his football throws. Classic.
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