Date: 28th September 2000

Pop.com Still Bubbling


Despite supposedly being written off the internet site owned by STEVEN SPIELBERG pop.com is showing signs of life.

Nearly three weeks after the company from DREAMWORKS and IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT, JEFFREY KATZENBERG said he will return to working online and even plans to resurrect the "Pop" name.

He explains, "We have some things we like and we plan to go back to it." Katzenberg said that three months before the site's launch, he sat with Pop's principals to review business plans. They realised that running the site would cost $30-35 million (£20-23million). But even with advertising, sponsorship and Pop's invention of specially crafted "i-mercials," the site's projected revenue was only $8 million-$10 million (£5-6million) a year. "We realised that either our idea was flawed, our ambition was too great, or we're too ahead of the market."

Pop currently resides under "the Countingdown.com umbrella." Observers had speculated that Countingdown, the movie fan site that Pop acquired during the summer, would take over its entertainment Netcasting efforts.

(PDD/DV)

Source: WENN