CrushTV - What Facebook might be if Zuckerberg had gone to USC
What's the difference between Facebook and CrushTV, other than about 60 million users?
The former was created by Mark Zuckerberg while he was at Harvard, thinking about how the Internet could help students meet and hang out with others who shared their interest.
The result was what Zuckerberg calls a "social utility" that has made the business and media worlds stand up and take notice -- attention that has ranged from an investment by Microsoft to a response from Google, in the form of OpenSocial.
CrushTV, on the other hand, was founded by guys in LA, so it's no surprise that its content is focused more on activities that have a less-cerebral utility -- and are well-suited to sunny climates. Things like people watching, partying and watching campus sports.
The startup, which was founded in 2006, is a video-based social network that lets members post clips documenting the highlights (and lowlights) of their campus lives. Given that most of the early content seems to be coming from USC and UCLA, not far from Hollywood, think lots of tanned bodies, both male and female.
Given how tech-savvy and Internet-dependent college kids are, my guess is we'll be seeing a lot more of these campus-based video sites.
The ad-based video model that CrushTV relies on is going to be a tough, crowded market, especially now, before video-ad networks have standardized and a lot of big-name brand advertisers are wading in cautiously lest their brand end up on videos with content that could turn off customers.
In other words, I don't see Proctor & Gamble buying ads on CrushTV. But tequila-maker Jose Cuervo, or hotels in the spring break mecca of Puerto Vallarta, or a test-prep service, would definitely be interested in the site's demographic.
And that will be the challenge for niche video sites like Crush -- will they be able to attract enough ad dollars when monster sites like YouTube will be sucking a lot of oxygen from the room?
No one knows for sure. But parents of college kids should know that there's a chance that CrushTV just might be the future of campus video.
