Internet Superstar Scooped by Good Morning America

In a San Francisco nightclub recently, a noisy crowd came for the weekly taping of Internet Superstar, an online-only TV show that chronicles off-the-beat Web celebrities.



This time, however, "Internet Superstar" found itself scooped on not one, but two of its biggest stories, by no other than ABC’s Good Morning America. Such are the perils for those whose job it is to have fun with what is quickly becoming mainstream entertainment.

"It is so much harder to come up with fresh material these days," complains Martin Sargent, the 32-year-old host of ‘Internet Superstar.’ A few years ago, I was the only one calling these guys, and they were only too happy to come on the show. But now, with someone like Chris Crocker -- who became a Web megastar for sobbing out an appeal on YouTube to leave Britney Spears alone -- I couldn't even get through to him. He was too busy going on Howard Stern."

On the surface, "Internet Superstar," a web-cast of Revision3. might seem like a funny, if ribald, bit of low-budget cultural satire. Still, the show might be a test of the fashionable theory that the Internet makes possible all sorts of profitable niche entertainment opportunities.

But with the pros like Viacom's Comedy Central now thundering onto the Web, not to mention the legion of amateurs already there, it's unclear if anything niche-size will be left over.

Revision3 says its shows get four million views a month.

All this competition, Sargent admits, makes it tougher than ever to book the guest or write the joke before someone else. "I'm spelunking the darkest caverns of the Internet." That the audience for "Internet Superstar" is mostly male should go without saying.

Cybercast credit: Revision3