Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

What I find interesting about the premiere of Quarterlife on NBC tonight, is it's failure to gain traction on the Internet, and what that may mean in relationship to TV. I don't think it's as simple and obvious as it looks.

Other marketing efforts on the the Internet which did do extremely well, but not too good on the big screen, like "Snakes on a Plane," show that the buzz of the Internet isn't always an accurate indicator of reality. In other words, those that liked "Snakes on a Plane," had all been accounted for online, and made up the entire audience for the most part. So even with great buzz, it didn't go beyond its core demographic.

That's why the introduction of a show from the Internet (although it had been a pilot of ABC in 2004), is something different this time around.

It's possible that the lack of a foothold on the Internet may result in it being more suitable for a television audience; something we'll find out if it's true quickly.

As co-creator of the show Marshall Herskovitz recently said about the lack of traction of the show on the Internet, "Even the most brilliant accomplishments on the Internet are essentially cold. Google has changed the world, but you don't snuggle up to it. YouTube is a giant carnival, filled with freaks and mountebanks, a place to gawk and laugh and get bored. Certainly not a place to feel anything.

"And because the Internet was invented by "geeks, engineers, and boys" who ... don't naturally select for emotionality (they'd rather play video games) or exploration of inner life (they'd rather watch porn) or being in deep relationship with other people (they'd rather build Web sites till all hours), the Internet is singularly devoid of these colorations of humanity."

He actually identifies an important factor, and now we'll see if that factor truly applies to "Quarterlife," and whether it is really something that will be successful on TV.

As Herskovitz and Ed Zwick say, now it'll be the audience that decides who decide what the next chapter of "Quarterlife" will be, and they're completely right to say that.

What's important about this to me is to see if a work on the web can be successful on another platform. That offers up a lot of possibilities not thought of too much before. Most are thinking in terms of successful Web stories migrating to the television, not unsuccessful ones, which may appeal more to a different demographic. That's the real story of Quarterlife for us marketers and content creators.