Online Media Cultist

Though there’s no hard numbers available, the speculation is that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog did pretty well for itself by web standards. No idea of course if that’s true or if Joss Whedon’s tragicomedy about a wannabe super villain and his quest for love even came close to covering production costs, but the model is very interesting.

Here’s what happened:

· Dr. Horrible was rolled out in three “acts” over a week, available for free viewings
· They got a bunch of great buzz from press and from reviews as well
· No more free viewing after the third act was up for just a few days
· Now you can buy the whole thing for about $4 on iTunes. TV Squad: “I do know that at the moment Dr. Horrible counts for 3 of the top 4 episodes and the top season on the U.S. lists.”

Now it gets even more interesting in that it’s a musical so we’re going to see the 1) soundtrack and 2) DVD w/ lots of extras for sale.

Joss Whedon’s fan base makes this a unique case to be sure (DVD sales brought Firefly back from the dead and lead to Serenity being made), but the model is pretty intriguing.