Democratic Party Adds Gay Marriage to Platform, Still No Word on Federal Law

Just four years ago, the Democratic presidential candidates were divided on whether or not same-sex marriage should be legalized. Now in another sign of how quickly the party has "evolved" on the issue, the Democratic Party plans to include support for gay unions in its official party platform, which will be formally approved during the convention. While the party is hoping the move will invigorate its base (not to mention wealthy donors), there's concern that it will hurt Democrats in more conservative areas of the country. Plus, it's unclear if the platform will actually present specific steps for promoting marriage equality across the country.

Today Rep. Barney Frank, who sits on the party's drafting committee, told the Washington Blade that a platform including a gay marriage plank had been unanimously approved by a 15-member panel at a weekend hearing in Minneapolis. An anonymous Democratic National Committee staffer said that the current version includes a rejection of Defense of Marriage Act and positive language on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The platform is still in the draft stage, and may change before it's presented in September.

LGBT activists are praising the move, but some in the party are concerned that it could backfire. It's likely to complicate the races for Democrats facing tough battles in red-leaning states, including Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri,  Senator Jon Tester of Montana, and Tim Kaine, who's running for Senate in Virginia. It may also wind up energizing supporters of traditional marriage more than those who support same-sex unions.

The shift wouldn't have been possible if President Obama hadn't supported same-sex marriage two months ago. As the New York Times notes, the 2008 platform contained similar language opposing DOMA, but it had to stop short of supporting gay marriage, since candidate Obama was only in favor of civil unions. President Obama still says the issue should be left for the states to decide, as they've been doing. Gay marriage is legal in six states and will be voted on in three more states in November. North Carolina recently passed an amendment banning same-sex unions, which should make for an awkward convention in the state.

The move marks the first time a major party has come out in favor of same-sex marriage, and is certainly significant step toward bringing gay rights into the mainstream. However, it's possible that like President Obama's announcement, this will be more of a symbolic victory. Democrats are hoping that once again, announcing their general support for gay marriage will give the party both a morale and a fund-raising boost. There's no word on whether the final version might include support for a federal law to allow gay marriage, but since President Obama has yet to come out in favor of such a measure, it seems unlikely.

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A platform of one’s own: Video Game High School takes control

What happens when a creator uses a highly-anticipated web series to launch a new website? The creators of Video Game High School found out when the highly-anticipated web series debuted on Rocket Jump — bringing millions of views to a platform they fully controlled.

For a few years now, creators have relied on portals like YouTube and Blip for both hosting and discovery — but third-party hosting means ceding some amount of control over your content. And as the space evolves, other strategies are beginning to emerge.

When the web series Video Game High School made headlines with the enthusiastic response to its Kickstarter campaign, there was no denying that the scripted comedy fantasy about a school for video game fanatics would find an audience online — especially given that it was co-created by Brandon Laatsch and Freddie Wong, AKA FreddieW, who has built a strong fanbase on YouTube with his blend of comedy, VFX and gaming references.

But Video Game High School wasn’t your ordinary web series release — because it drove the launch of the independent content platform Rocket Jump.

Building upon Wong’s pre-established audience online, and also drawing content from creators like Corridor Digital and Feast of Fiction, Rocket Jump uses a proprietary video player to host content for, according to the site’s About page, “people willing to stand on that razor’s edge of the envelope that gets pushed outside the box.”

Video Game High School was Rocket Jump’s first big release, with episodes released first to the Rocket Jump site, and then, a week later, uploaded to YouTube. And the strategy paid off. Numbers provided to us by the Collective (and independently verified by Visible Measures) showed that the series has so far, between YouTube and Rocket Jump, received 31.5 million views.

And while 24.4 million of those views — approximately two-thirds — came from YouTube, the remaining 6.9 million came from Rocket Jump. Most importantly, episode-to-episode, YouTube viewership remained consistent, but on Rocket Jump, viewership grew as the series progressed — increasing audience throughout the course of the campaign.

“We were able to drive real audience and grow that audience on a proprietary platform — without cannibalizing our YouTube audience. In that case it was a tremendous success,” Dan Weinstein of Collective Digital Studio, which co-produced and co-distributed the series, said via phone.

Rocket Jump, according to Weinstein, isn’t meant to replace the team’s YouTube presence — instead, “It’s about expanding their brand and providing a different level of engagement for their audience.”

But building an independent platform for their content has a number of advantages for the Rocket Jump team. First, it means that unlike YouTube, they have a greater level of control over the advertising appearing with their content: Rocket Jump videos currently include video pre-rolls as well as banner ads.

In addition, the Collective — which represents Rocket Jump in dealings with advertisers and sponsors — has a clearly defined property to offer. “Brands know who Freddie is,” Weinstein said. “Add in Rocket Jump, something [that's] owned 100 percent, and it’s another tool in the arsenal.”

But it’s not just the FreddieW show, either: Like other online video brands built around a central personality, such as Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist empire, Rocket Jump has the potential to grow into something much larger than one person. “It was meant to be bigger than the FreddieW brand,” Weinstein said. “They built it to be bigger than themselves.”

The Rocket Jump strategy wouldn’t necessarily work for anyone, especially the lesser-known independent creator. “It takes a large dedicated fanbase to migrate the experience to an owned and operated website,” Weinstein said. But for the right content, there might be life outside of YouTube.

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