Cats Plus Online Videos Equal Precious
Last summer, 10,000 people turned out at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for the first Internet Cat Video Festival. It was such a success, they've brought it back. Scott Stulen, who runs the festival, thinks cats and online videos just work together.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And our Last Word In Business today is click catnip. Ten thousand people turned out at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis last summer for the first Internet Cat Video Festival.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It was such a success, they have brought it back. Scott Stulen runs it and thinks cats and online videos, they just work together.
SCOTT STULEN: I like using the comparison with dog owners - that they go to dog parks, they go on walks in public and meet other dog owners. But cats are more kind of just within the home, and there isn't really this place. So in some ways like, you know, the Internet is a cat park.
MONTAGNE: Part of the festival is a competition to win the Golden Kitty Award. One of this year's contenders is called "Cat a Log."
GREENE: Har-har. That is no grainy phone video of cat tricks. It actually has actors, a musical score, a storyline about a couple whose new bed came with the cat that was perched on it in the catalog photo.
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MONTAGNE: The winner of this year's Golden Kitty will be announced tonight. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The winner will not be announced on Tuesday, Aug. 27, but on Wednesday, Aug. 28.]
GREENE: And America's obsession with cat videos just goes on, doesn't it? I'll be watching for those entries. That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne.
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Correction Aug. 28, 2013
In the audio of this story, we imply that the winner of the Golden Kitty Award was to be announced on Tuesday, Aug. 27. We should have said Wednesday, Aug. 28.