New media bloggers are out in full force today. The issue? NBC Universal and News Corps’ launch of an online video sharing service. In short, the networks’ competitive response to YouTube.
Sure the announcement is old news. What is new are the partnerships struck with portals like AOL, Yahoo, MSN and MySpace allowing you (theoretically) to access all your favorite FOX and NBC content (The Office anyone?) on all four of these major sites.
Now if you’re wondering where does that leave Google? Well, back with their user generated roots… thousands of faces pontificating to their webcams, hundreds of hillary mashups, and a crop of viral stars.
Mark Cuban, Don Dodge and Paul Kedrosky all share a seemingly sensible and logical viewpoint on where this is all heading.
Assumedly with Viacom’s lawsuit moving forward on Google, and increasingly more copyrighted videos being stripped off of YouTube, viewers will be only glad and perhaps thankful to watch their beloved network TV content, Heroes, on very familiar trafficked sites like MySpace.
To be fair, all three of them do say the success of NBCU and News Corps’ video sharing service will depend on its execution. But then what doesn’t depend on execution?
Some of those “keys” to success as listed by Don Dodge are “have it your way” and “allow user generated mashups.” Fair enough, basic tenets for online video sharing. Mark Cuban goes ever further stating “This new venture, if it can launch in the next few months, will hit the ground with more and better content, and more monetization options than Google.”
Mark of course has been calling out YouTube’s shortcomings from its very launch. Ultimately, the problem with putting faith in NBCU and News Corps’ video sharing service is… putting faith in NBCU and Newcorps.
I can’t tell you how many times I get called out, by technical colleagues working for “tech” companies, on why my own company (full disclosure: Viacom employee) doesn’t have so and so RSS subscription features, or roll out so and so widget application.
It’s the Engineering… dummy!
At Viacom, as at News Corp and NBC Universal, we are brilliant creatives… dare I say genius? But the point is when it comes to rolling out the latest app allowing viewers to cull our brilliant content and place it into a formidable and nifty ajax based widget…well, our collective response is whaha?
It seems we forget that Google is a “tech” company first, and content portal (YouTube) second. The success of NBCU and Newcorp’s service is a function of a many great things… most notably engineering know-how.
Sure, Microsoft in the form of “MS”NBC may lend a hand… but that only leaves us with a finicky Windows Media delivery platform. The DRM that will be demanded of this new service to safeguard network content from piracy will render the technology even more feckless. YouTube scaled and became the go-to-place that it is because of ease of use. My mother can work YouTube with the ease of operating her old VCR. But she still has trouble playing video on any media site (Name it, nbc.com, abc.com, foxnews.com).
Furthermore the deal has already announced that network content will be delivered via a proprietary platform, as if we don’t have enough of those rotting on the web.
Core competency is a catch-phrase business school students love spouting. In this case their favorite b-school term may be well invoked. We are in the age of new media, which by definition intersects with technology and which by definition gives tech companies like Google a competitive advantage when it comes to content distribution. And believe me folks… right now distribution is all that counts, if you have doubts just check out this latest vid of a man going by the name of MrPregnant with a pot over his head and achieving over 150,000 views.
And the biggest trump card that everyone forgets rests with Google. Network and cable copyrighted show content may be expunged from YouTube, but it will always exist and continue to be uploaded on any of the hundred YouTube clones out there. It only takes Google to open up their search range and incorporate videos from these sites to have the herd come back and view videos in a way they have become comfortably accustomed to: ad and DRM free online video.
This is not to say NBC and News Corp are headed towards disaster, but they are headed to a very humble place– where viewers come to watch their videos in spurts, before the delivery platform lags and an ad shows up whereupon the viewer is off to dailymotion.com to watch the same episode of The Office.
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Its the Engineering dummy (The Google co « Superhi MacFly
March 27th, 2007
A very interesting & insightful commentary on tech versus entertainment companies and how new media forcing them to play together. What trends emerging now do you think we might see fully developed in the next year or so and which trends are likley to be just … trends?
XXX
March 27th, 2007
hey im one of the 150k coz i watch mr mcpregnant, he’s a riot !!
a bit back i did try comedy central for the daily show coz they werent working on a leftwing blog Crooks and Liars (last year i think) but it was so busy looking and fiddly in comparison and then i couldnt find the exact segments i knew about, so i just gave up with that site. apparently they’ve improved, but i haven’t been back to check…
anyway i wonder how much of the content will be available to ppl outside the US - for stuff i cant access thru the brand sites i used to use YT but now go to clone sites which seem to have better, clearer players anyway.
i hope it works out for that murdoch etc outfit but if they close it off to non-US ppl, well thumbs down from me, it’ll be business as usual.
tezza
March 28th, 2007
tezza,
you are right to be concerned about network content being restricted to certain regional viewers. Network content has broadcast restrictions that typically regulate it to the States or at least where those broadcast rights have been purchased( (Cananda always seems to get stiffed). Of course that’s the downfall of playing by the rules when you’re a big media player and you have to (else you’ll get sued!) But then the networks really aren’t as concerned by this as they are of having that Canadian watch it on peekvids.com without seeing any ad money in return. Yet they don’t offer it to them on their own site! Sorry Canadian comrades.
Sunbulli
April 12th, 2007