• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 15, 2008

Digital entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies has entered into an exclusive agreement with Spike TV to adapt and promote its original Web series "MoCap, LLC" for TV. 

Worldwide Biggies has already begun production on six half-hour episodes for Spike TV, the first of which is slated to premiere on the network in January.

"Spike offers the perfect platform for MoCap's valuable niche audience to grow," said Albie Hecht, founder and CEO of Worldwide Biggies, and one-time president of Spike TV.

Appealing to guys' massive appetite for video games, Spike TV already carries a weekly series, GameTrailers TV, and hosts the annual Video Game Awards, which Hecht himself produces.

"We see 'MoCap, LLC' as yet another way of super-serving the gaming audience," said Kevin Kay, president of Spike TV.

The MoCap webisodes take a dark-humored, behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of a low-rent motion capture studio willing to do just about anything to find work in the video game industry. Similarly, the television series will follow a documentary crew as they visit the dedicated "artists" that make up the staff of MoCap, LLC.

MoCap marks the second original Web property--but the first series--that Worldwide Biggies has had adapted for TV. Previously, the Nick At Nite for Biggies user-generated online dog community, "Worldwide Fido," was developed into the "First Annual Worldwide Fido Awards," which aired in prime-time TV just last week.

Bypassing the traditional Hollywood system, digital studios have emerged over the past few years to exploit cheaper development and production costs. Ex-Disney head Michael Eisner arguably started the trend with his Vuguru production firm, which officially launched in March 2007 and financed the Web series "Prom Queen."

With $9 million in funding from investors like NBC Universal, Hecht entered the fray with Worldwide Biggies last summer.

Rather than latching on to one particular revenue model, Hecht has explored a number of growth strategies since leaving Spike to begin development on Worldwide Biggies in late 2005.

Worldwide Biggies generates the bulk of its revenue through licensing and unit sales, while just about 10% of revenue comes from advertising, according to Hecht. As a result, Hecht sees his company as better insulated from the present economic downturn than other media companies.

"Advertising will be somewhat affected by the economy, but we don't have to worry about that as much," Hecht said. "The good news is that when people are depressed, they look for more entertainment."

To further support the multi-platform aspect of MoCap, Worldwide Biggies has developed a companion online game "MoCap Man: Men with Balls," which is currently available online.