Carlsberg wants to be your footie-buddy

One of the really cool things about web TV is that making an editorial bet on online video is anybodys game not just media companies’. If you’ve got the money and are willing to invest, you can build quite a media enterprise.

This is exactly what brewery conglomerate Carlsberg is doing. Carlsberg has long been a sponsor of Liverpool FC, some other clubs and various football tournaments, but now they want to take ownership of the beerdrinkers…ehhh…the fans of football across the globe. This is to happen, when they launch Partofthegame.tv in a little months time.Yesterday at the Web TV 2008 conference I saw a demo of this new product, and I have to say that from a presentation perspective, you could not put your finger on one thing. You have basically all the social aspects of YouTube, and everything is very pretty. This however doesn’t change the fact that I’m just a wee bit skeptical.

Take me as an example. I’m fan of Blackburn Rovers. This is THE CLUB for me. I don’t care about other clubs or other fans. They leave me cold. Now with that being said, why would I want to join a community with fans from all over the globe and sit and look at videos of everything else but my club? Why wouldn’t I just seek out the sites dedicated to my club?

Of course this latter approach would be what I would choose. Hence Partofthegame.tv would not be part of my TV or media agenda. And I definately don’t think I’m alone in this.

With all this being said hats off to Carlsberg for trying this out. I hope - despite my personal pessimism - that they will become your best footie-buddy, because we need initiatives like this to put pressure on traditional media companies to get into the game.