PE Hub reported that, to no surprise, Current.TV withdrew its planned IPO. The company recently came to mind while reading Jeff Howe's wonderful book, Crowdsourcing. It has a nice description of Current's travails, while they were looking to establish a business in the prosumer video niche. The book details the Company's attempt to 'democratize media' by attracting and nurturing a community of posters, reviewers and viewers.
The book is a must read for those interested in community based businesses and has a number of 'rules of thumb' that are always quotable, and sometimes even right. My favorite here is the 1-10-89 rule. For each person who posts content, 10 will comment, and 89 will view.
Current had a rocky beginning and, similar to many young companies, zigged and zagged before taking down their site in '07 and relaunching with a firm community embrace around news, entertainment and gaming. The content is a mixture of Professional (e.g. CNN and National Enquirer) and prosumer. Little things, such as welcoming members and empowering the community to vote on videos went a long way to establishing the company. Though, based on the Quantcast numbers below (if accurate), I suspect the company is having a difficult time bringing revenues, or attracting more capital.
Here's a sample of one of the Current videos 'The Rotten Tomatoes Show'
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