Ricky Van Veen

Serious Business? CollegeHumor Tries Selling Web Video.

Peter Kafka in Media on October 11, 2011 at 9:02 am PT

Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld are Web stars. But the fans who watch their videos on CollegeHumor don’t pay to watch them. Time to see what happens when they charge for their stuff.

College Humor Gets a New Grown-Up: Time Inc. Digital Dude Paul Greenberg

Peter Kafka in Media on October 7, 2010 at 5:44 am PT

Here’s the new adult supervisor at College Humor, Barry Diller’s much-smarter-than-you’d-think humor site: Paul Greenberg, who most recently has been running digital operations at Time Inc.’s Lifestyle group.

Why TV Still Won’t Embrace the Web Quite Yet

Peter Kafka in Media on June 8, 2010 at 6:30 am PT

You know the answer, right? But just to spell it out: Even two million Hulu eyeballs a week don’t mean much for a hit TV show like “Modern Family.”

College Humor Dudes Grow Up, Move Into Dad’s House

Peter Kafka in Media on September 9, 2009 at 8:42 am PT

College Humor dude Ricky Van Veen has graduated from his old gig to a new one, running a TV and Web video production company for Barry Diller. But he’s not leaving his old crew behind: They’re about to pack up and follow him to Diller’s IAC headquarters.

Why Online Video Ads Still Don’t Work

Peter Kafka in Media on May 15, 2009 at 2:12 pm PT

From the funny-and-true! department: A biting clip from the dudes at College Humor satirizing the lousy ad options and mind-numbing ad jargon that dominate the online video business.

Boxee CEO Avner Ronen Gets a Crash Course in the TV Business

Peter Kafka in Media on March 13, 2009 at 5:00 am PT

When I first met Avner Ronen two months ago, the Israeli entrepreneur was basking in buzz. Now his Web video start-up has gotten a sobering dose of reality from the television establishment, courtesy of NBC and Fox. But Ronen still thinks he can get big TV, and big cable, to play along with him. He has a persuasive case.

A Taco Truck in the Office and a Dude in a Cage: Behind the Scenes at College Humor’s New MTV Show

Peter Kafka in Media on December 19, 2008 at 7:04 am PT

Working for Barry Diller is hard. But so is running a business while shooting a new MTV show in your office. College Humor’s Ricky Van Veen and Josh Abramson explain.