Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture by Rob Salkowitz

Author:Rob Salkowitz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & General Reference, Professional Text Plus, General Business, Business books, General books
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2012-06-29T04:00:00+00:00

Photo by Doug Kline

The “geek-friendly” G4 Network broadcasts live from its multilevel booth at Comic-Con.

G4, a division of NBCUniversal, occupies an interesting niche in the expanding pop culture universe. Originally conceived as a cable channel devoted to video games and technology, it quickly found that it had to broaden its view of “geek culture” to become more viable. The network reaches only 59 million homes via cable and satellite, and its ratings are microscopic, but it makes aggressive use of online channels, including podcasts and the web, and continuously tries to cross-pollinate its fragmented audiences by knitting together just about every aspect of the contemporary twenty-something male slacker experience, including comics, Japanese anime, genre-oriented movies and TV, alternative sports, music, consumer electronics, porn, getting stoned, screwing around, and getting busted.

A few years ago, G4 threatened to break out with the increasing visibility of on-air personality Olivia Munn. When she departed to become a big star elsewhere, the network tried its hand at more mainstream programming, like the Japanese obstacle game show Ninja Warrior, just as the rest of the media began to capitalize on a rising tide of interest in nerd culture in the wake of successful network shows like The Big Bang Theory.

Attack of the Show (AOTS), G4’s flagship program, still offers a nightly survey of all things geek during its comically awkward hourlong broadcast. In doing so, it blithely traipses across ancient tribal barriers dividing nerds from jocks, popular kids from stoners, and brains from airheads. The alt.jocks of Ninja Warrior fit just as neatly into this postmodern unified theory of geekdom as video gamers or comics fans. We may have our different interests, but we can all share a laugh at a viral video of a skateboarder flying off a roof and landing on his ass.

Despite its antics and its marginal relevance as a commercial broadcast enterprise, G4 was among the first to give airtime to authentic and respectful fan perspectives. Its product reviews are honest, down-to-earth, and well informed, speaking to the genuine tastes and interests of the audience. Comics reviewer Blair Butler (a comedian by trade), for example, has deep knowledge of and genuine affection for the medium, and covers her beat with the assiduousness and sincerity of a financial reporter on CNBC. G4’s success in this niche has now drawn other established youth brands like MTV, eager to capitalize on the current vogue for geek chic.

People who watch AOTS or X-Play (G4’s other big “news show,” focused exclusively on video games) probably get most of their information online anyway, so it’s not like you need G4 as a news source. Websites like Newsarama and Bleeding Cool have been around for longer and provide a greater range and depth of pop culture coverage. But even in the post-TV media era, there is something legitimizing about seeing your interests and your subculture discussed seriously on the tube, without the protective layer of condescension that most mass media apply to lubricate their coverage of comics, toys, genre entertainment, and gaming.

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