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| ratings = | ratings =
}} }}
'''Rocketboom''' is a three-minute daily ] presented in the format of a newscast with a comedic slant. Since ], ] it is hosted by former ] ] ] and produced by ]<ref>{{cite web '''Rocketboom''', produced and directed by ], is a three-minute daily ] (videoblog) which is often presented in the format of a newscast, usually with a comedic slant. It is hosted by former ] ] ], who made a brief appearance on ], ], and then began as the show's anchor the following day<ref>{{cite web
| title = Wednesday July 12, 2006 : daily | title = Wednesday July 12, 2006 : daily
| date = ] | date = ]
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==Format== ==Format==
Each weekday Rocketboom offers oddities, vlog excerpts and explores emerging social movements. It sometimes presents political commentary. Apart from an occasional use of old newsreel footage or vintage commercials, mainstream media is avoided. The and feature supplemental material that does not make it onto the show. Each weekday morning, Rocketboom offers oddities and assorted animations, reports on robotics, unveils digital delights, samples vlog excerpts and explores emerging social movements, such as ] and ], while sometimes presenting political commentary, satiric or serious. Apart from an occasional use of old newsreel footage or vintage commercials, the much-touted products of traditional mainstream media seldom get a mention. Instead, the thrust of Rocketboom is very much allied with Internet culture and personalities, such as ], who has been parodied on Rocketboom. Baron's survey of Internet amusements is ongoing and vast in scope, as indicated by the many links he has posted at Rocketboom's associated sites, the and , repositories of material that does or does not make it onto Rocketboom's daily webcasts.

On some shows, Rocketboom reports directly from Internet seminars and conferences, such as the Apple Campus in Austin (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Thursday march 16, 2006 : special feature
⚫ | date = ]
⚫ | work = Rocketboom
⚫ | url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/03/rb_06_mar_16.html
| accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref>, the Syndicate Conference 2006 (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Thursday may 18, 2006 : special report
⚫ | date = ]
⚫ | work = Rocketboom
⚫ | url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/05/rb_06_may_18.html
⚫ | accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref> and the Webby Awards (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Tuesday, june 13, 2006 : special feature
⚫ | date = ]
| work = Rocketboom
⚫ | url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/06/rb_06_jun_13.html
| accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref>. It also offers field reports from such events as '']'''s 100 Most Influential People red carpet gala (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Tuesday may 9, 2006 : special feature
| date = ]
| work = Rocketboom
| url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/05/rb_06_may_09.html
| accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref>, the ] pillow fight (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Tuesday February 21, 2006 : daily
| date = ]
| work = Rocketboom
| url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/02/rb_06_feb_21.html
| accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref> and locations such as the Brooklyn Brewery (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Friday October 07, 2005 : casual Friday
| date = ]
| work = Rocketboom
| url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2005/10/rb_05_oct_07.html
| accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref> and the ] in ], ] (])<ref>{{cite web
| title = Thursday may 11, 2006 : field report
| date = ]
| work = Rocketboom
| url = http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/archives/2006/05/rb_06_may_11.html
⚫ | accessdate = 2006-08-25 }}</ref>.


===Production=== ===Production===
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| url= http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002034874 | url= http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002034874
| accessdate = 2006-07-07 }}</ref> Each of which was a series of 5 commercials shown, one per day, over the week that they were featured. | accessdate = 2006-07-07 }}</ref> Each of which was a series of 5 commercials shown, one per day, over the week that they were featured.

In Fall of 2006, Rocketboom's popularity claims and self-published statistics came into question.
In an interview with Dow Jones, Baron claimed "400,000 viewers per day" and that "some episodes are more popular and receive well over a million complete downloads."<ref>
{{cite web
⚫ | title = What is Rocketboom?
⚫ | url= http://www.rocketboom.com/sponsorship/
⚫ | accessdate = 2006-07-07 }}</ref> After extensive analysis<ref>
{{cite news
| last = Green
| first = Heather
| title = Why Ze Frank is Right and Wrong About Rocketboom
⚫ | date = 2006-10-27
⚫ | work = ]
⚫ | url= http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2006/10/ze_frank_right.html
| accessdate = 2006-10-28 }}</ref> ''BusinessWeek'' reported that Rocketboom provided incorrect statistics data resulting in "cutting in half the original estimate... to 78,500 downloads" and noting that Rocketboom refused "to let any third party... verify these stats."<ref>
{{cite news
| last = Green
| first = Heather
| title = The Continuing Saga of Rocketboom Numbers and Yanking Our Estimate
⚫ | date = 2006-10-27
⚫ | work = ]
⚫ | url= http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2006/11/the_continuing_1.html
⚫ | accessdate = 2007-05-29 }}</ref>


===Spoofs, Knock-Offs, Reviews=== ===Spoofs, Knock-Offs, Reviews===

Revision as of 02:05, 22 September 2007

Podcast
Rocketboom
File:Rocketboom logo.jpgRocketboom logo
Presentation
Hosted byJoanne Colan
UpdatesDaily
Production
Picture format.mov, .wmv, mp4, HD, etc.
Publication
Original releaseOctober 26, 2004

Rocketboom, produced and directed by Andrew Baron, is a three-minute daily vlog (videoblog) which is often presented in the format of a newscast, usually with a comedic slant. It is hosted by former MTV Europe VJ Joanne Colan, who made a brief appearance on July 11, 2006, and then began as the show's anchor the following day.

The site launched on October 26, 2004 and has been broadcasting five days a week ever since. The series' original anchor, actress Amanda Congdon, went on to host a weekly video podcast for ABC.

Format

Each weekday morning, Rocketboom offers oddities and assorted animations, reports on robotics, unveils digital delights, samples vlog excerpts and explores emerging social movements, such as freeganism and parkour, while sometimes presenting political commentary, satiric or serious. Apart from an occasional use of old newsreel footage or vintage commercials, the much-touted products of traditional mainstream media seldom get a mention. Instead, the thrust of Rocketboom is very much allied with Internet culture and personalities, such as Ze Frank, who has been parodied on Rocketboom. Baron's survey of Internet amusements is ongoing and vast in scope, as indicated by the many links he has posted at Rocketboom's associated sites, the Rocketboom weblog and Apollo Pony, repositories of material that does or does not make it onto Rocketboom's daily webcasts.

On some shows, Rocketboom reports directly from Internet seminars and conferences, such as the Apple Campus in Austin (2006-03-16), the Syndicate Conference 2006 (2006-05-18) and the Webby Awards (2006-06-13). It also offers field reports from such events as Time's 100 Most Influential People red carpet gala (2006-05-09), the Union Square pillow fight (2006-02-21) and locations such as the Brooklyn Brewery (2005-10-07) and the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York (2006-05-11).

Production

Rocketboom is available on the website, Akimbo, Democracy, and via an RSS 2.0 feed. Viewers may subscribe to feeds using a podcast aggregator such as Juice or iTunes, which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically. In addition to TiVo, it is also available on Windows Media Center with a third party plug-in from mcesoft.

Music

Rocketboom's opening theme music is "Zoom a Little Zoom", from the 1959 album Space Songs (written by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer), a public domain recording because of a lapsed copyright. The theme is sung by folk musician Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans with music by Tony Mottola. The song is available for downloading from the Singing Science website.

People

The core Rocketboom production team consists of Andrew Baron (writer, producer, director), Joanne Colan (Host, Writer, Producer), Kenyatta Cheese (Producer) and Joe Bonacci (Editor). Rocketboom and Rocketboom Human Wire's World Video Report both present webcasts packaged by its correspondents in the United States, Europe and Kenya: Annie Tsai (Los Angeles), Andy Carvin (Washington DC), Zadi Diaz (Los Angeles), Ruud Elmendorp (Nairobi), Steve Garfield (Boston), Milt Lee (South Dakota), Chuck Olsen (Minneapolis), Bre Pettis (Seattle), Tyson Root (Houston), Stefan M. Seydel (Switzerland/Germany/Austria) and Graham Walker (Prague).

Popularity

Rocketboom interviewed Jimbo Wales at the Time 100 Most Influential People Gala (2006-05-08)

When Rocketboom debuted in 2004, it went from an initial 700 viewers to 70,000 viewers in its first ten months. The vlog's success was noted in the summer of 2005 by CBS Evening News, Wired News and other publications. BusinessWeek labeled it "the most popular site of its kind on the Net." The January 9, 2006, issue of Newsweek stated that Rocketboom had "130,000 daily viewers."

On February 2, 2006 Rocketboom was incorporated into an episode of the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in a fictional scene of a murderer watching a Rocketboom commentary on the crime. In the month following the CSI episode, the number of Rocketboom viewers jumped to 200,000. As noted by Dan Mitchell in the New York Times (2006-03-11), this is similar to the size of a small cable show audience. In "A Blog Writes the Obituary of TV," Mitchell wrote:

One recent week, the video blog Rocketboom drew an average of 200,000 people a day to watch its short daily news reports on technology, the arts and other topics. The Abrams Report on MSNBC, meanwhile, drew 215,000 viewers to its weekday hourlong show about legal issues. Does this anecdote -- that an unpopular cable news show and a wildly popular Web site draw similarly sized audiences -- prove that the Internet is upending the economics of the television business? It does for Prince Campbell, a former media executive who runs the Chartreuse (BETA) blog. Mr. Campbell wields superlatives in a particularly bloggish manner at chartreuse.wordpress.com. "Broadcast television is dead," he declares. "Just like the Internet killed the music industry, it's about to do the same thing to broadcast TV."

In April and May 2006, Rocketboom introduced its first commercials. The first commercial sponsors were TRM and Earthlink. Each of which was a series of 5 commercials shown, one per day, over the week that they were featured.

Spoofs, Knock-Offs, Reviews

Video bloggers chimed in with their spin to Rocketboom's He Said/She Said with posted clips of their take on Rocketboom founders' separation in July, 2006. Parodies include MissleBlast and RocketBum in the style of SNL/In Living Color/MadTV, or YouTube LisaNova on LittleLoca performances. The former producing "Soup of the Day" knock-offs, and the latter a male in drag replacement anchor, attempting to reinvent Comic-As-News medium now dominated by award winning the Daily Show and Colbert Report. CIOInsight Edward Cone interview of Amanda Congdon sums it up: On the Set with Web Video's Crossover Star.

References

  1. "Wednesday July 12, 2006 : daily". Rocketboom. 2006-07-12. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. Congdon, Amanda. "Amanda UnBoomed". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  3. "Rocketboom". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  4. "Thursday march 16, 2006 : special feature". Rocketboom. 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. "Thursday may 18, 2006 : special report". Rocketboom. 2006-05-18. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "Tuesday, june 13, 2006 : special feature". Rocketboom. 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. "Tuesday may 9, 2006 : special feature". Rocketboom. 2006-05-09. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. "Tuesday February 21, 2006 : daily". Rocketboom. 2006-02-21. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. "Friday October 07, 2005 : casual Friday". Rocketboom. 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. "Thursday may 11, 2006 : field report". Rocketboom. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. "Rocketboom for Media Center 1.1". mcesoft.nl. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
  12. "FutureMedia News, Reviews, Interviews, Analysis, Expos, Press Events, Parties". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  13. Cohn, David (2005-07-13). "The Vlog World's Greatest Hits". Wired News. Retrieved 2006-07-20.
  14. Green, Heather (2005-09-05). "Rocketboom's Powerful Lift-Off". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  15. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  16. Mitchell, Dan (2006-03-11). "A Blog Writes the Obituary of TV". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  17. Anderson, Diane (2006-02-17). "Rocketboom Takes Off: Earthlink and TRM are First Advertisers". Brandweek. Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  18. ((cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxIt20bNpEI)
  19. ((cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuHzWZu0qK8))
  20. ((cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIEWKx5R-ls))
  21. ((cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6N4tvT03vs))
  22. ((cite web|url=http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2094010,00.asp))

External links

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