Our business began as a web-based eBook store in 2005, and was re-launched in early 2010 with a new design and new business model that included advertising revenue-generating opportunities. In 2010, we acquired a library of comic books, novels, graphic novels, and screenplays to distribute on our eBook platform as well as to market and promote across other web properties that we also acquired and built in 2010. That same year, we were granted a broad patent that allows for the insertion of advertising into eBooks delivering a new revenue stream for eBook publishers and authors. We believe this patent could provide us with a competitive advantage in the highly competitive eBook distribution market.
Since 2010, we broadened our operational focus to include the services of a digital media studio, which operates as Studio W, and in September 2012 we formed Carthay Circle Publishing, a digital publishing entity, for the purpose of identifying and acquiring unpublished content for exploitation and “brand-building” across the digital and traditional media landscape.
Over the last decade, the internet has challenged traditional media business models by reshaping how content is consumed, created, distributed and monetized. Consumers today spend more of their time online, venturing beyond major internet portals and visiting an increasing number of websites to find specific content for their personal needs and interests. In addition, consumers are changing the way they discover content online, primarily through advancements in web search technology and the popularity of social media. However, consumers are often unable to find the precise content that they are seeking because the demand for highly specific, pertinent information outpaces the supply of thoughtfully researched, trusted content.
The increased specificity of consumer demand for online content strains many existing content creation business models. Traditional models focus on producing content with sufficiently broad audiences to justify elevated production costs. This traditional approach is less effective for fulfilling at scale the increasingly fragmenting consumer demand for content. Meanwhile, the widespread adoption of social media and other publishing tools has enabled a large number of individuals to more easily create and publish content on the internet. However, the difficulty in constructing profitable business models has limited such individual endeavors largely to bloggers and passionate enthusiasts who, while often knowledgeable, may lack recognized credibility, production scale and broad distribution and monetization capabilities.