Goodbye lonelygirl15....say hello to Esmee Denters & Lisa Nova!

I'm assuming most of you know of the online phenomenon of lonelygirl15, of her success and inevitable demise. Lonelygirl15 was a professionally created video blog, following the hopes, dreams and daily meanderings of the irreverent, pretty, teenage, vulnerable Bree, delivered to us right from her bedroom using no more than a web-cam. Or so we thought. Featured on YouTube, her audience took her for real, but after finding out that she was really the creation of talent backed by CAA, her numbers started to drop. 'She' averaged between 300,000 - 600,000 viewings per episode at the shows height. The shows numbers still remain fairly high (100,000 viewings per episode) considering the fact that everyone now knows the truth behind this professionally produced show.

Enter Esmee Denters & Lisa Nova...

Esmee Denters, a pretty, talented, vulnerable, teenage girl from the Netherlands auditions as a singer in front of the world...and the world likes her very much indeed! Who needs American Idol? Esmee has already been featured on local radio, dutch television, and has been written about on YouTube's own blog. Check out her videos on her YouTube Channel along with her profile on MySpace.

Lisa Nova is, well, an anomaly. Lisa Nova is a self taught comedian who got her big break on YouTube with what is best described as her own, pretty raw, variety show. With over 6 million viewings, people clearly love her. Lisa writes and directs all of her own content. Lisa recently sold her show to the Daily Reel, an independent, online channel.

Considering Time Magazine chose 'You' as in 'all of us' as the man of the year, this is significant. The emergence of Esmee Denters & Lisa Nova is an evolution in a trend along with lonelygirl15, and the creation of the character Bree. An evolution of the power of the medium, and of anyone's ability to publish. This is not a trend people. It continues to re-iterate that the power is in the story, the talent, the every-man - and to hell with production values (for now at least). Rest assured more surprises are on the way in '07, and more stardom for Esmee Denters beyond Bree's wildest dreams.

Stay tuned.