After revealing in late May that it was looking for partners to develop its content properties Charged and Word, networking solutions company Icon has found a home for the more rambunctious of the pair. The Hub, AOL's content channel for the young and restless, told Wired News Monday that it would carry extreme-sports zine Charged on AOL and on the Hub's new Web site, launching 1 August.
In the era of provisional partnerships, it seems Icon has gotten hip to the rule that every young skate-rat knows by heart: Put your tag in as many places as possible.
While the Hub may provide a high-profile address for Charged, Icon will continue to pay for the brand. According to Icon CEO Scott Baxter, the company will exclusively support - and exclusively own - the zine, and that is precisely how Baxter wants it. "The Hub gets content, Icon gets eyeballs, and the Charged brand name gets built."
The Hub, a joint venture of New Line Television and AOL's content production studio Greenhouse, provides the ideal catapult for the relatively small Charged brand. The Hub currently claims 2.8 million users, a result of its placement on the AOL homepage.
But with New Line Television’s involvement (and the inklings that the Hub may be developing shows for television), Icon may have been attracted by the possibility of broadcast potential. Baxter says that a television deal was not specified, but he does hint that "one of the things we've kept open is to take Charged to a new medium."
This "cable model" of generating revenue by floating, omnipresent brands forces companies to "put content where people are looking," says Jupiter analyst Steve Mitra. Financially, the Hub deal has also been sweetened in recent weeks, albeit quietly, by the fact that Icon has started providing networking solutions to (surprise) the Hub itself.
Since the Hub's launch in March 1996, content acquisition - as opposed to strict in-house development - has played a major part in the site's strategy for growth, says Friedman. "It’s like in the movie business when you acquire a feature film that hasn't been made yet," New Line Television president Bob Friedman adds.
For Charged, the migration of editor in chief and founder Dan Koeppel to the Hub may throw into question the zine's permanent residence at Icon, but Baxter insists that "nothing's changing." Koeppel, who was a television scriptwriter and senior editor at Mountain Bike magazine, will now work for the Hub's new West Coast Creative division in Los Angeles, further suggesting early moves by AOL toward TV projects. Meanwhile, the Charged staff in Icon's 30- to 40-person New Media Content division will not be affected by his departure, says Baxter.
Icon's loss may be the Hub’s biggest gain. Friedman adds that the alternative niche carved out by Koeppel and Charged is a snug fit with their unorthodox approach. "If you look at the Hub and you see traditional sports," says Friedman, "we’re doing it wrong."
From the Wired News New York Bureau at FEED magazine.
