Turner Entertainment's SPIV
By Marshal M. Rosenthal
According to Webster's Dictionary, "spiv" is a British term for one who lives by his or her wits. While managing a Web site in today's chaotic and rapidly changing world could easily drive people out of their wits, Turner Entertainment believes that with SPIV, it is creating a unique online entertainment experience. Found at www.spiv.com, SPIV is a narrow-band service derived neither from a magazine, network, nor other existing media. Instead, SPIV consists of all-original content, subdivided into six areas (or subsites), each with its own point of view. However, they all share the same demographic—the 15- to 24-year-old group. And true to the way this demographic group thinks (fast and furiously), SPIV changes on a daily basis to keep the interest and juices flowing.
It's all about content, but more to the point it's about the presentation of content. As a trend—setter, SPIV has inspired numerous wannabes since it first came on the scene in January: Similar sites from other companies have popped up to try and steal some of the thunder and, more importantly, the demographics (STIM from Prodigy comes to mind). Instead of rehashing material, SPIV was built from the ground up to be a provider of youth content with an attitude. An entire staff—composed of members of its target audience—is dedicated to the site.
Each of the six subsites—Antidote, Zooey, Shiitake, Waxed, Nrrrd, and Rough Cut—is linked to the home page but still has its own identity; see
