Blog: SSN

Coming Soon to Small Screen Network: Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen™

Small Screen Network is pleased to announce the arrival of Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen™, a new web video series on cocktails and cuisine launching September 2010. Having Kathy as one of our hosts is beyond exciting!

More on Kathy Casey:
Kathy Casey has played a key role in bringing Northwest cuisine and women chefs to national prominence and, as one of the first female executive chefs in the United States, she was named one of Food & Wine’s “hot new American chefs.” She has also been touted as being the original Bar Chef.

Continued...  ·  Posted on June 2, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

Quality of Content is in the Eye of the Beholder

This is a great article by Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. He goes on to explain that the idea of what content is and whether it is quality or not has changed in the digital age.
When I think of the role Small Screen Network plays now and will in the future my thoughts are very much aligned with Ben’s. SSN has to keep focused on niche audiences and continue to produce content that is relevant. Over time, we will rise to the top.

From Ben Elowitz:

Last week, I explained why the traditional ways of judging “quality” in published content are useless in the digital age. Judging by readers response to that piece, those dated values (which I labeled credential, correctness, objectivity and craftsmanship) are still sacred to many people. But here’s the problem: They simply aren’t enough to win audiences, drive financial success, or, for that matter, ensure viability. The demise of institutions like Newsweek proves that—and shows that publishers that don’t move beyond these anachronistic measures of success will perish.

So this week, I’m offering part two of the changing definition of quality in published content. Here are the four new rules of quality that publishers must obey to flourish. The biggest difference between the old and new definitions of quality are who’s doing the judging. In the era of Publishing 1.0, when production costs were high, alternatives low and time ample, the editor deemed something quality or not. But today, content isn’t scarce at all—in fact, it is in oversupply. And it is the audience that judges quality directly, dozens of times per day.

So, according to the audience, what is quality? It comes down to these four characteristics:

—Relevance. When users are skimming thousands of pages from a hundred sites per month, without question the most important factor is whether your content is relevant to the audience. Relevant often means timely, as TMZ demonstrated when it covered news of Michael Jackson’s death hours before others, or when Janis Krums tweeted his photograph of Captain Sully’s US Airways flight 1569 on the Hudson. (As he said in his blog a couple of days later, “it is incredible that anyone at any point can have such an impact by simply posting a picture online.”)

Continued...  ·  Posted on May 12, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

CBSNews.com Showcases Robert Hess Mixing Mint Julep

It is an honor to be mentioned on cbsnews.com! The news site embedded The Cocktail Spirit video with Robert Hess mixing up the Mint Julep. You can read the article and watch the video here.

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

eMarketer Says Online Video Has Gone Mainstream

According to eMarketer, online video has gone mainstream and will continue to grow through 2014. What great news for Small Screen Network and other high quality video produces across the web.
With video becoming available across multiple devices and certain age demographics viewing most or all of their video online, the opportunity continues to grow for Small Screen Network. Read more in this article from eMarketer.

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

Robert Hess Makes Top 25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities

Imbibe Magazine has posted its list of the Top 25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities. Robert Hess, host of The Cocktail Spirit on Small Screen Network, has made the list. He is in some fantastic company.

The 25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities of the Past Century
(from ImbibeMagazine.com)
The May/June 2010 issue cover story features the 25 Most Influential Cocktails of the Past Century. Compiling that list got us thinking about the people behind some of those cocktails, so we thought it only fitting to create a list of the 25 most influential cocktail personalities of the last 100 years. For this list, we considered the type of influence someone has had on the cocktail world as well as the duration of that influence—and keep in mind that these are people who have specifically influenced cocktail culture, not spirits. Whether they’ve created an iconic cocktail, spawned a cocktail trend or dedicated themselves to educating the public about the craft of cocktails, the following 25 people have undoubtedly impacted the way we all drink cocktails today, and for that, we raise a toast to each of them.

Continued...  ·  Posted on April 27, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

Executives and Media Buyers to Spend More on ONline Video

From MediaPost 4-23-10
Nearly all ad executives and media buyers plan to increase spending on online video this year, according to new research from branded video ad network BrightRoll. Indeed, 94% of respondents said they plan to increase their spending on video — up from 87% last year.

But where do they plan to spend their creative budgets? The majority — 54% — plan to spend them on interactive pre-roll, as opposed to branded entertainment, at 20% — consumer content or webisodes, at 15% — or other forms of creative content, at 11%.

Read More on MediaPost

Continued...  ·  Posted on April 23, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

Small Screen Network and William Grant & Sons - Fan and Bartender Appreciation Night @ Rickhouse

Join Small Screen Network and William Grant & Sons at Rickhouse Bar in San Francisco to celebrate our fans and the bartenders across the globe who inspire us. Come meet the hosts of all your favorite Small Screen Network shows and sip fantastic cocktails, created especially for this event by our on screen personalities, featuring wonderful spirits from the William Grant & Sons portfolio. Happy Hour starts at 4 PM and goes until 6 PM. Then, come back after the Tasty Awards for our after party from 11 PM until closing. Prizes will be given away at midnight. See you there!

Who: Small Screen Network, William Grant & Sons, You!
What: SSN Fan and Bartender Appreciation Night
When: January 14th, Happy Hour – 4-6 PM, After Party – 11 PM until 2 AM
Where: Rickhouse Bar, 246 Kearny St. San Francisco, CA
Media Contact: Colin Kimball 360-340-7233 or colin (at) smallscreennetwork.com

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Colin Kimball  ·  2 comments

Tales of the Cocktail 2009 - That’s A Lot of Ice!

Tales of the Cocktail, the internationally acclaimed festival of cocktails, cuisine and culture held its annual event in New Orleans, Louisiana from July 8 to July 12, 2009. The event brings together the best and brightest of the cocktail community—award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers—for a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of making drinks. Each year offers a spirited series of dinners, demos, tastings, competitions, seminars, book signings, tours and parties all perfectly paired with some of the best cocktails ever made.

Continued...  ·  Posted on August 17, 2009 by Colin Kimball  ·  2 comments

Seattle Times Mentions Mint Julep Video

The Seattle Times wrote a great short piece on that quintessential Bourbon sipper, the mint julep. Thanks to the Times for mentioning our video from The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess.

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments

Dowd on Drinks

We are happy to announce that Bill Dowd will now be blogging for Small Screen Network under the title Dowd On Drinks.

http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/blogs/dowd_on_drinks/

Bill Dowd is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the portfolio of Circle 7 sites. He is a veteran newspaper editor and columnist and a competition judge and writer in the fields of food, drink and destinations.

Bill, who lives in Upstate New York, is the author of a weekly beverage column, also called “Dowd On Drinks,” distributed by both the New York Times News Service and the Hearst News Service. He also is the National Drinks Examiner for Examiner.com.

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Colin Kimball  ·  0 comments