As video on the web evolves into a fairly standard medium, it starts to offer some real benefit for TV. On the one hand, you can show/sell shows on the web, that are not successful enough for TV placements or that are so successful, that people will pay a couple of bucks per film or episode.
Now I read, that Axe Webisodes are destined for TV. Since the show attracted millions of viewers online, it will now be put on regular television:
„Evan and Gareth proved this model online, and we’re excited to translate it to television, where it has a ‚pre-sold audience‘ of millions of unique viewers who’ve already been enjoying the comedic adventures over the Internet for a year.“
I am pretty sure, that producers will look at the web as a medium to test new shows, content, etc. more than ever in the future. i.e. find out, if your content is good enough to capture the attention of people, before you waist thousands (millions) of dollars putting it in front of a uninterested TV audience.