Soap opera fans may be dwindling in number, but at least one production company thinks that the fan base and advertiser support is sound enough to take some established properties to the Web.
Prospect Park has licensed All My Children and One Life to Live from ABC, which planned to cancel the shows this year, and said it will produce new episodes for Web consumption, as well as put older episodes online. The deal will net millions in royalties for Disney, which owns ABC, and is said to run for over a decade.
"We believe that by continuing to produce the shows in their current hour format and with the same quality, viewers will follow the show to our new, online network," said Prospect Park heads Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz.
Prospect Park hasn't cemented any deals yet with actors or writers and is weighing how it plans to monetize the shows. The Wall Street Journal said Prospect Park is weighing a subscription model, but also is looking at ad sales, product-placement deals and sponsorships.
The company is counting on the shows to be cornerstones for a new network.
For more:
- see this WSJ article
- see this EOnline article