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Fans of monster truck rallies and bikini clad hotties may join the executives at Hearst Television, Time Warner, and Comcast in shedding tears for Ripe Digital Entertainment. I'm hearing that the Hollywood-based production and ad sales firm has gone belly-up, another victim of the lousy ad market. So ends a much hyped effort beginning in 2005 to become the primo destination for horny and manly young guys on cable video-on-demand, mobile phones, and online.
Once upon a time, Ripe vowed to become the world's first free ad-supported on-demand network. Comcast and Time Warner Cable gave Ripe coveted distribution to 40 million homes on their VOD platforms. And advertisers including Dodge, Cingular, and Procter & Gamble lent support to a lineup of barin-dead programming that included Stuff 4 Dudes, Girls of FHM, and Sexy Road Test. Hearst Television, Time Warner and investment firms Columbia Capital and Rho Ventures kicked in $32 million in 2006 for the second round of funding. But Ripe couldn't make a go of it.
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maybe if the ceo had a clue and the ability to program it wouldn’t have been such a bust. but hey, when you start a company with sole purpose of chasing tale, there’s only so far you can go. hats off to hearst and time warner for giving it the life it had.
I know the Ripe guys and they’re all good folks, they tried hard but were maybe a bit out of synch with the emerging new media curve. I think the problem wasn’t so much the content — as it did exactly what it was supposed to do — but the mistaken conceit that the demographic they were targeting would make any sustained effort to seek them out. That demo is too passive and Ripe’s content too micro-targeted. A slightly broader-based viewer demographic and a bit more mainstream content would have given them a better chance to build viewer numbers that might have let them survive the recessionary downturn in advertising.
Oh well…
They tanked because they have crap on their site
The studios, tv and film are the only ones that can provide great content
and they are in trouble, big trouble
the kids of today are destroying the industry with the illegal downloading, and hey if they want crap for the next 50 years then continue on with it
this is a sad day in the entertainment industry
I second that comment above! Below the line was full of more then talented and hardworking people. Ripe if managed right could have accomplished what they boasted. Unfortunately above the line was a we are “rock stars” attitude with sponsors money, Hawaiian parties and unsuspecting models. It really was the incapability of the Ceo to relate to anything other then a frat boy mentality and his yes men who cowered under him. Unfortunately the execs walk away having made their money while most of Ripe’s ex-employees are looking for their next job in a tougher then most economy. Meawhile, the industry is left to think that free ad supported content will not work.
The company did not do a good enough job of focusing on the audience and the advertiser. They got killed by guys like break and college humor who never raised money at all. Plus, the content was horrible.
All that investment money, all that production talent – just wasted. Mismanagement will destroy any great idea – no matter how well-funded. If you have an immature, insecure CEO and surround him with fraternity brother yes-men, it’s a recipe for failure. But they have the last laugh because they continue to get paid until the bitter end. Be careful, gentlemen. There’s karma payment due down the road.
Well this just sucks, this is the first ive heard of things as i haven’t really been in the loop. Ive been vacationing Mexico about 2 hours south of Puerto Vallarta when a local gardener on the grounds of the resort looked over at me as if to say “stop defecating on my roses sen˜or” when in actuality recognizes me and says, you’re that guy from RIPEtv. In my embarrassment i said yes, yes i am only to be told that NF’s blog was speaking of us. I thanked Sen˜or Luis-Fernando Miguel and hopped a bird staright to a El Starbucks in Tijuana where i had free Wireless only to find this post. I put long long hard hours into that company and i feel robbed, none of my pictures ever saw the light of day they deserved without the marketing they needed. To say the company was unstructured would be one thing but it was more that it was divided. I never really made it “upstairs” except for one time, but i knocked over a box of peaches and was kicked out for good, or at least that’s what they told me: “…the show is being taken down cause you knocked over the box of peaches, they were really important peaches… i’m sorry, now do you have any female relatives?”
I haven’t been back in about 2 or 3 years and i guess i wont be able to now, last i heard was something about some RIPE 7 thing? or Trivia Trio thing? i dunno…
Either way if anyone’s still at the company i would love it if you could call me or email me, i really would love to get a hold of a guy there named Jon, he was cutting together a side-boob compilation of the CRL and PMR girls for me, need to touch base on that.
Anyway, nice run!
Sorry again about those peaches, they must have been really ripe.
-Staurt,.
It was like working at Sterling-Cooper… only without the cool suits and smoking. Total frat-style management with top execs jetsetting and taking retreats in Tahoe and Hawaii while the grunts barely had free coffee.
It’s embarrassing for companies like Hearst, Time Warner, Columbia Capital and Rho Ventures who invested that much money in one the most incompetent “management” teams I have ever seen. The Hearst SEC filing indicating the bleeding of money at RDE was an understatement…..$30+ Million is one hell of a Frat Party in that short of time……
I hear Self proclaimed “media entrepreneu” Magnussen’s new gig is being a Celebrity impersonators for Philip Seymour Hoffman & Rocky Dennis…..the “yes men” can do flying monkey appearances as well.
I blame everything on the “Phillip Seymore Hoffman-looking, wannabe Hugh Hefner CEO. What a joke! They could have succeeded, but with a CEO who is only interested in chasing tail and partying, then what can you expect? Lesson learned, never trust a spoiled frat boy to run your company or spend your money.
Seems like a bunch of bitter ex employees leaving comments. I give Ripe BIG credit for taking the concept of original video on demand network to the farthest level possible. The CEO and management took the company from an idea to raising over 50 million dollars of investment from biggest media companies in the business.
The bottom line is the space and business model does not work. PERIOD. Name one company that has not either not shutdown or is not on life support or shut down. You tube will lose 700 million this year and the entire space is DEAD.
Ripe really did an incredible job in a space that will never work. Original short form video and advertising on a slippery cpm slope.
…coming into work wasted and shit face doesn’t is very unprofessional…the CEO forgot that he was running a company and not a frat house.
“Keep Rockin’ It!”
Chad Vader!
OHMYGOD!!11!!
Chad Vader!
::gurgle gurgle gurgle::
And scene.
Ripe was crap, if it actually hit the mark maybe someone would have watched it. The CEO paid porn sites to put up naked pics – when clicked went to ripe. Yep thats an audience.
And if the truth ever comes out – that was 95% of their audience.
Love the idiots up here who suggest it was all just bad luck. And yes love the comments from the ex-employees who knew RM well. He is a drunk fat little fart who deserves this fall from grace. One can only hope his only job in the future will be cleaning the toilets at a Denny’s. But you have to know some idiot studio exec will hire him thinking RM knows something – he does know something, but that’s only how to mix a dry martini. Good riddance to bad rubbish
I love that this has become the place for people to rant about the ceo and company they once worked for. I choose not to hid my identity because I spoke up just as you are now… while employed at ripe. When we spoke up about the drug and alcohol abuse… we were ignored. The end result is many people out of work and scrounging for jobs in a very tough market. The personal at ripe was full of talented and amazing people. It’s sad that it never reached its full potential because of said factors listed in the previous posts. Perhaps we all learn a valuable lesson from this… don’t be fooled by empty promises and large egos.
Ryan M was the biggest piece of crap i have ever had the pleasure of working with. We could have kept the company going another year if we could have sold his desk. !! I mean what a dick. His “Personal Assistant” made more money than the people who actually made the content. Explain that! My fondest memory of ripe digital is coming to work every morning and see where RM wrecked his car the night before. What a fat dumb drunken idiot. I dont even think he watched A show that went out of that place…. fat dumb idiot
Wow! My condolences to all the hard working people who lost their jobs & a bitter congratulations to the executives for getting away with highway robbery.
IMHO *everyone* is to blame. If people (read:you) would have brought this to the attn of the investors, law enforcement, the board of directors, someone with the power to act on it, you all might still have a jobs… and the people involved in the drugs and other questionable activities would have been given their walking papers, maybe even have been prosecuted.
In the end this might be good therapy for some (the ranting) and a warning for others (future investors). If there is anything close to karma, your CEO and his henchmen will never see another executive job.
- Prof USC
People did speak up, and those that did speak up were fired. A former employee even went as far as writing a letter to the investors to warn them of all the shady stuff going on. But they continued to give them money. Be warned out there people, don’t trust these guys with your money, NEVER, EVER again! They will use it to party.
Ryan Magnussen best know for Rum and Cokes on Fridays was an idiot! Ryan Magnussen is a man that will have to live with the fack he screwed his friends and employees – he is a selfish man and hope he learns – Karma dude Karma
Well, i have sympathy for a lot of the former employees at Ripe. They were great workers, extremely talented, and friends.
The fact is: Ryan M didn’t hold a gun to anyone’s head and force them to work at Ripe.
What happened to the simple act of “getting another job if you’re unhappy”.
I’m caught in the middle of empathy and “boo f.%$.. hoo”. Empathy for those who lost jobs and had to support family. Boo f$$$$ Hoo” for all those naysayers bitching about management when they sure didn’t complain getting paychecks ever 2 weeks, catered lunch and drinks on friday, and pretty much no manager sweating down their backs.
Cheers
The above was a lame response most likely written by one of his flying monkeys.
Fact is he and his team lacked total management skills. Obviously nobody was forced to work for at Ripe, that’s clear when you look at the high turnover rate. It was the same with everyone… start work, wait a month then say WTF did I just get myself into.
Right now he’s laughing all the way to the bank and the strip club and the NYC apartment and the SoHo House and Hawaii and Tahoe….
Funny and true story sands, listen up:
On the day that the Production Manager called a meeting to tell everyone that our insurance benefits were being halted, the manager had to speak up over the noise of the construction company building the BBQ pit and fountain right outside the wall. Nice to see where that saved money ended up.
I was there sands. Were you? Did you work upstairs or downstairs?
“I’m caught in the middle of empathy and “boo f.%$.. hoo”. Empathy for those who lost jobs and had to support family. Boo f$$$$ Hoo” for all those naysayers bitching about management when they sure didn’t complain getting paychecks ever 2 weeks, catered lunch and drinks on friday, and pretty much no manager sweating down their backs.”