By Sahil Patel
Before multi-channel networks stormed YouTube, there was Rooster Teeth. Hell, before YouTube even existed, there was Rooster Teeth. The digital studio and network, founded in 2003, has been a fixture in online video ever since they thought it would be funny to create a series of animated videos using in-game player models from Microsoft’s dominant “Halo” franchise.
That show, known to many as “Red vs. Blue,” has since grown to 12 full seasons and a five separate mini-series — some of which have been financed by Microsoft itself. But that’s not why Rooster Teeth was the best network of 2014.
Since 2003, Rooster Teeth has grown from an online video production company to a multi-faceted business that includes original programming, branded content, a YouTube network, a podcast network, video games, and live events. Its seen “innovative, next-generation, disruptive” (pick your adjective) businesses rise and fall on the web, and it still stands, profitable and growing.
“We have gotten a lot of credit for having very progressive business models — live events, subscriptions, home video,” says Rooster Teeth co-founder and creative director Michael “Burnie” Burns. “But really for us, those are fundamentals. When we started this, there were no other ways to monetize content.”
Read the rest of VideoInk’s interview with Rooster Teeth…
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