Andrew Baron

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Andrew Michael Baron, born 1970, is a producer-director best-known as the creator of the popular daily newscast Rocketboom, hosted by Joanne Colan. Baron was also the co-executive producer of Rocketboom's second production, Jetset. Rocketboom has steadily increased in popularity since it began in October 2004.

Gaining 50,000 viewers in less than nine months, Baron became the pack leader in the Internet's vlog revolution. On August 19, 2005, he was interviewed on CBS Evening News. In an "Eye on America" segment [1] CBS veteran Jim Axelrod commented on Rocketboom's "range," the ambitious effort at daily news coverage on a limited budget and Baron's prescient grasp of the next Internet wave: "You could just see this. You know what they call that? Vision," said Axelrod.

By April 2006, Baron had corraled 300,000 viewers, lined up advertisers (EarthLink, ATM manufacturer TRM), signed a deal with TiVo and turned down buy-out offers from two major TV networks. "I think we could go a lot further on our own," Baron told Rolling Stone. "If you can do it, why not do it your way?"

American Journalism Review noted that Baron was reaching more viewers than most local TV newscasts:

Let's run that number again — 300,000 — because it's a significant, potentially even ruinous figure for TV news professionals. Congdon and Baron, and a staff of four, produce a daily information program that reaches more people than almost any single local newscast in America. And Rocketboom is growing like a tulip in early spring. Between January and March of this year, its worldwide audience more than doubled, according to Baron, who has the server logs and hit counts to back up his figures. At its current growth rate, Rocketboom's audience will soon rival that of most national cable news programs.

In Austin during the 1990s, Baron played in bands, ran an art gallery and worked a variety of tech jobs. With a BA in Philosophy from Bates College (Maine), Baron arrived in New York in 2001 to study computers and video at Parsons School of Design, where he acquired an MFA in Design and Technology in 2003. He was teaching at Parsons when the notion of Rocketboom came together. Although he has little interest in television (and did not own a TV set during the past decade), the increase of online videos during the 2004 presidential election gave him the idea of a daily comedic newscast.

In the summer of 2004, he posted an ad for an actress on Craigslist and received 450 responses. In September, after auditions of several actresses, he hired Amanda Congdon for $50 a show as Rocketboom's anchor-host. With the growth in viewers and introduction of ad sales, Amanda's pay was increased, and she became a partner with a 49% share in Rocketboom. The daily series began in October 2004 and immediately found an audience fascinated by the unpredictable comedic approach. Not all episodes are humorous, as indicated by the May 20, 2005 segment on police brutality. [2]

With the increasing media attention throughout 2005, Rocketboom's audience continued to expand. Each day's show was written and produced by Baron and Congdon with direction by Baron and Mario Librandi. Using his own equipment, Baron directed a portion of "Killer," an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which aired February 2, 2006. That same month, Brandweek took note of Baron's $80,000 ad sale:

"Advertising with us has extra value, because we aren't going to accept advertising from someone whose morals are against us, someone like Hummer," said Rocketboom producer Andrew Baron. The creators of the show are acting as ad agency as well as media for the ads for TRM and EarthLink. "We've got to approve the ads and if we like them, chances are our viewers will like 'em." Baron said he decided they'd show ads at the end of the broadcast of the daily show. They will also consider airing pre-made commercials if they meet his and co-host Amanda Congdon's "creative standards."[3]

When Baron began his first commercial, CNNMoney.com labeled it a "milestone in Internet history." [4]

[edit] Listen to

Andrew Baron's Ten Concertos for the Wind
Audio interview with Baron and Congdon on The Sound of Young America

[edit] References

Axelrod, Jim. CBS Evening News: "Eye on America" (August 19, 2005)[5]
Farhi, Paul. "Rocketboom!": American Journalism Review (June-July, 2006) [6]
Goldstein, Andrew M. "The Rise of the Video Blog," Rolling Stone, April 21, 2006. [7]