U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > BUSINESS > MEME INDUSTRY READY TO UNLEASH SURPRISES FOR 2010
MEME INDUSTRY READY TO UNLEASH SURPRISES FOR 2010
January 7 2010
Washington, D.C. – Though the word and concept of ‘meme’ dates back over one hundred years it wasn’t until the last few years that the term has really caught fire. Cultural phenomenon, many of which have started life on the internet, have taken the
term to new heights with things like ‘Rickrolling’, ‘Techno Viking’, ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ and more recently Kanye West’s outburst on the MTV awards taking hold of the public’s consciousness. Those events, full-fledged cultural explosions, have taken the meme to the next level and ensured that the industry will thrive in the new decade.
Now the meme industry has promised that 2010 will see more than a few surprises for fans of such cultural phenomena that will match or even surpass the success of 2009. While critics are sceptical that last year will ever be topped, industry officials promise that as the country moves out the recession, memes will only get bigger, spread wider, and become more and less culturally relevant going forward.
“2008 was without a doubt the breakthrough year for us. True, meme’s had existed before then but they hadn’t reached the heights that any of us in the industry had 
hoped for. For companies that have been in the field for a great number of years like we have it was great to see things take off like that and in 2009 we just continued that success. For the coming year though I can tell you that we have more than a few tricks up our sleeves which will help put us far ahead of the competition,” said Carl Canting of MemeMe, Inc. “2009 was a watershed year that proved memes were here to stay and that they could break through into the mainstream in ways no one ever expected previously. The fact that we were able to have that success in such a challenging year means that the industry is here to stay and there is nothing but success going forward.”
MemeMe has traditionally used sites like 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica to promote its memes but, like many in the industry, is looking to branch out going forward.
“There’s only so much interest that you can generate from those websites. They’ve done great things for us thus far but we need to diversify in order to each a larger audience going forward. We can’t simply rely on ‘viral’ events such as we have in the past in order to generate steady revenue streams. We need to find new and more concrete ways to bring interest to our product,” said Michael Watts of memememememe. “It’s time for the industry to grow beyond where we are now in order to really thrive. Now that there are so many companies trying to get a relatively small audience we need to change things in order to remain competitive. I can tell you though that 2010 will be a huge year both from us and from our competitors.”
Watts has suggested using traditional media such as magazines and television to help spread memes across a wider audience.
“There’s little doubt that 2010 will see a lot more meme penetration. The sheer number of people now jockeying for a piece of the pie ensures that there will be no shortage of new attempts at grabbing the spotlight but that also
means, as it often does, that the quality will start to decline and ultimately alienate the people that made the industry a success in the first place,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “That is always a major issue when it comes to these types of growth sectors and ultimately companies will have to choose between mainstream success and dedicated, loyal fans. Ultimately this story has been played out before and is just one of the many growing pains the meme industry will have to deal with going forward.”
Exact financial numbers have not been revealed by the industry and no one would offer a preview of what might be coming in the new year.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > MEME INDUSTRY READY TO UNLEASH SURPRISES FOR 2010
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/pages-4/Meme-industry-ready-to-unleash-suprises-for-2010-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://bit.ly/7m8uKM |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
