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Digg.com Founders Move Into Podcasting

Digg.com founders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson are moving on to the next project, starting a second company just as their first one is taking off. Called Revision3 Corporation, this next venture is an Internet video production firm they have been running in their spare time. Now Revision3 is on its way to becoming a full-fledged company, having secured $1 million in funding from a group of investors that includes Netscape founder Marc Andreesen, Greylock Partners, a VC firm that has backed Facebook, LinkedIn and Digg. The new company targets tech geeks, and aims to build a network of tech-oriented Internet TV shows, or podcasts. A program called "Diggnation" is its most popular show; it features Rose and co-host Alex Albrecht sitting on a couch drinking beer and talking about the most popular stories that turned up on Digg that week. The show has more than half a million members and attracted 8.5 million visitors last month, according to Adelson. One of the problems with podcasts--"Diggnation" is technically a podcast--is that exact audiences are difficult to measure. Many podcast viewers use software that automatically downloads a show onto their PCs, but they may not watch all of them. Still, "Diggnation" is consistently one of the top podcasts in the Apple iTunes podcast directory. Revision3 is also already profitable--with monthly ad revenue ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, and sponsors like GoDaddy, which seems to be everywhere on podcasts, and CacheFly, a company that helps Web sites transmit video. With the new funds, Rose says Revision3 will be able to put together an ad sales team.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »

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