SF Signal: Can the Next Big SciFi Thing Be Coming From...YouTube?

Can the Next Big SciFi Thing Be Coming From...YouTube?

An animated sci-fi show called Afterworld will be a test video of YouTube's revenue generating potential.

It will be hard to miss Afterworld, a new animated show featuring a cell phone salesman who makes a long, lonely trek home after all technology fails in a post-apocalyptic world. Story producer Stan Rogow calls it a "lyrical and poignant and dramatic and emotional" show--not exactly the type of fare viewers have come to expect on one of the Internet's most popular websites.

But that is exactly where they will find Afterworld, now showing in ten "preview" episodes on video-sharing site YouTube. The serial officially launches on its home site in mid-May and will soon thereafter be available on various other websites. In contrast to the many grainy, humorous and often trashy videos that populate YouTube, Afterworld's big budget and richly drawn story make it one of the most ambitious attempts yet to program for the web.

See the first installement here, then follow the trail.