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Sofia's Diary in the spotlight as Bebo pushes for third series

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(cc) by-sa kirinqueen/flickr

As Bebo is looking to put in place advertisers for a third series of successful cross-platform youth drama Sofia's Diary, NMA has a great profile of the show. The series, which was launched on Bebo, a social network trying to push beyond its successes in the UK, Eire and with younger users, was even picked up by Five for its digital channel Fiver.

The process highlights the complicated path for multi-platform productions, with the notional broadcaster - Bebo - wanting a third series, but having to find the advertising dollars before it commits. Just imagine what would happen if rather than making shows and then looking to fill gaps with ads, ITV or Channel 4 went to Coca-Cola and said 'What do you want to see between 8pm and 9pm on a Thursday'? Perhaps they'd be on more level ground; I reckon they'd never have got where they are.

We're seeing social networks coming into their own as places where tuned-in viewers can find, and importantly share shows they like, so I look forward to seeing much more of this. With both Bebo and MySpace cutting back on their own funding streams, however, it could be together times for the more complex shows to get off the grounds - which might mean copies and knock-offs. File under 'watch this space'.