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Media
Don't cry for me, Gray Lady
After 55 years, Abe Rosenthal exits the New York Times, unquietly.
By Sean Elder
[11/12/99]

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Gang land
Can the same entertainment media that have popularized gang culture be used to combat gang-related violence? Plus: Men who collect penis bones; capital punishments throughout human history.
By Jenn Shreve
[11/12/99]

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Girls will be jocks
At last, coverage of women's sports that even this non-spectator can appreciate. Plus: One writer's plaintive cry: "Enough with the sex, dammit!"
By Jenn Shreve
[11/05/99]

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"None of us are hip"
An interview with Allan Siegal, language czar of the New York Times and editor of its new style and usage guide.
By Susan Lehman
[11/05/99]

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Chinese take-out
Accusing the New York Times of a hit piece, Brill's Content does one of its own.
By Sean Elder
[11/01/99]

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Chiat, who brought us the Energizer Bunny and the Apple Computer ads that turned Super Bowl Sunday into a showcase for spectacular ads, is often called a visionary. He has a long-standing interest in technology and futuristic ideas; one of his most notorious moves was creating a virtual office -- which did away with assigned desks and seating -- for his Los Angeles ad team. (The experiment had decidedly mixed results.

Screaming Media is but one of many new-media companies moving into Manhattan's suddenly hip West Chelsea neighborhood. The 30,000-square-foot office Chiat and Screaming Media took over earlier this week has lots of brightly-colored curved walls, banana-yellow phones, refrigerators full of Lactaid milk and lots and lots of "screamers" in their 20s. ("We're not called employees here. We're screamers," says Chiat's assistant. )

Chiat talked to Salon Media's Susan Lehman about Screaming Media, new media, old media and more.

You told the New York Daily News, "The most amazing discovery was fire. The Internet was right up there." What did you have in mind?

You will agree fire did have some impact; certainly in some of the better restaurants, it does. The Internet is going to have the same level of impact.

What sort of specific impact, do you imagine?

Fire has impacted every part of our lives -- without fire, there would be no shopping, right? -- that's how the Internet will intrude on our lives, particularly our kids' lives. It will affect their education, the way they think about movies, food, the way they shop and the way the stuff they buy is delivered, everything. Fire is not as ubiquitous as the Internet will be.

Why is this company called Screaming Media?

The Interactive Connection -- its original name -- sounded very generic and boring. We sat around and put up "Yahoo" at the top of the chalkboard and said, "OK, that's the best name on the Internet. How close can we come?"

Then you have the problem of what's not taken. This was as close as we could come. We do stream information. We couldn't get any of the "stream"-dot-coms. Plus our name has a little more action in it.

After you left advertising, you invested in a number of new-media companies. Why did you decide to run this one?

This is the only one that asked me.

What does Screaming Media do?

We filter, syndicate and distribute content to corporate Web sites. We do it on a custom, real-time basis. We build very sophisticated filters. It makes the Web site fresher, more relevant. Anyone who has a Web site up, you'd think they'd have to use our product.

You've said you expect Screaming Media's revenue to jump from $5 million this year to as much as $50 million next year. Will the increase come solely from the syndication and distribution efforts?

Yeah. Our technology is very scalable. Our software can accommodate enormous numbers of clients. It's a marvelous opportunity. We'll keep developing products.

How do you make money?

We have a subscriber model. You, as a Web site, will say, I want content; we'll ask how many stories a day do you think you need to keep your Web site fresh. You'll say, I need so many stories a day, so many a month; that translates to x amount for a subscription.

What does a subscription cost?

The rough cost for about 250 stories a month is $1,300. It's a nice business.

How, as they say in your business, do you get "providers" to give up "content"?

We negotiate a contract with a magazine or media empire or whatever it is. We say, "We'll distribute your content, on an exclusive basis, and for every Web site that uses it, you'll get paid." We distribute 20 to 25 percent of all we collect to the content providers.

Next page | Why are so many dot-com ads incomprehensible?