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ABC Almost Gets It

Not sure how I missed this but ABC launched their online video player at the beginning of this month which allows you to watch selected ABC shows online with short 30 second interactive ads sprinkled in. However, they are making the same mistake along the lines of Sony and Pearl Jam by only keeping the episodes free for a limited time. If advertisers are willing to pay for those eyeballs and be the sole advertiser for a single episode then why not keep them free forever?

If anything why not keep a limited number of episodes up and back episodes can be purchased through iTunes? Wouldn’t that make more sense because now you can please the stations that are syndicating the shows years down the road, while also keeping your audience happy by providing a couple alternatives to how they can view their content.

If you haven’t already checked it out, I suggest having a look at ABC’s online Flash player as the quality of the shows is really top notch.

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Published by Scrivs on May 30, 2006 in Web++ • Did you like it? Subscribe! Or Submit it to Blogosphere News!

12 people says things!

  1. I agree that it would definitely be nice to be able to go back and start from scratch on a series, as I’m the type who is reluctant to start watching part-way through. But don’t you think that keeping episodes on in perpetuity would kill the series DVD revenue model?

    The movie industry has the schedule of release -> pay per view -> dvd -> TV (give or take), so maybe the television model analogue would be prime time (current season online) -> DVD -> itunes -> syndication?

    By Jackson Wilkinson on May 30, 2006 9:58 am

  2. I just read one of Mark Cuban’s posts about TV networks and their online ventures. Paraphrasing, he mentioned something along the lines that most of these ventures to put TV content online are slightly backwards. The networks are putting their popular content online first and for free. This has the potential backlash from all their affiliates since people pay for cable at home to watch these shows.

    They should be building or catering to audiences of smaller/lesser known shows or daytime TV. That way they can monetize shows they may have previously considered dropping.

    It’s obvious that the networks are trying desparately to find a way to monetize and fit into the new online medium. The problem is that they are applying their current mindset to do it and if they want to be successful they’ll have to change that.

    By Mike Stickel on May 30, 2006 10:35 am

  3. Baby steps. Baby steps.

    By Mike D. on May 30, 2006 11:14 am

  4. Mutter only viewers in United States mutter

    By karmatosed on May 30, 2006 11:23 am

  5. Mutter search for a proxy IP in the US and use that mutter.

    By Matt Dempsey on May 30, 2006 11:41 am

  6. I don’t think it would kill the DVD series at all because on the DVD you get special features and the ability to carry the series where ever you go and watch it on a much larger screen.

    By Scrivs on May 30, 2006 1:42 pm

  7. The streaming shows that ABC is doing is brilliant. I don’t have cable or any kind of TV reception in my house, but am addicted to Lost. So, any kind of streaming TV is good news for me.

    However, I have one major annoyance with the particular way that ABC does their commercials. I think that the commercials are great and they don’t bug me at all. But, they make you click on a button at the bottom of their popup window to resume the show. I have my computer hooked up to my TV and that button is located off of the screen so after every commercial I have to get up, turn on my monitor, drag the window over, click the button, quick drag it back into the right place, shut off my monitor, and quickly sit down before I miss anything. It’s still worth the effort, though I wish they had an option to automatically resume playback after the commercial is done.

    As for the limited edition offering of shows, I agree with you, Scrivs… It makes a lot of sense to have the episodes up indefinitely as long as advertisers are willing to pay for the screen time. However, just based on reading the news surrounding the video player’s release, I have the feeling like what they have up there right now is some sort of a test pilot, and if successful and profitable enough, could carry over into other shows and more episodes. (And it seems like it has been wildly successful) But, that’s just a hunch.

    By Joe Lencioni on May 30, 2006 2:36 pm

  8. I think you overestimate the value and audience for special features on DVDs. While most people might say that special features are a good thing, it’s probably not because they watch them, but because they just generally sound good.

    Portability might be a good thing, but it still applies only to a limited audience. Percentage-wise, I doubt many are playing their DVDs outside of the home. It’s another thing that’s nice to have and sounds great, but won’t really affect a sale all that much. And nowadays, with network connectivity becoming more and more ubiquitous, people might prefer to leave the boxes at home and just stream the videos wherever they are.

    Screen size probably is the best case to be made in favor of the DVD sets, but it also is the one of the best cases to be made in favor of HDTV, and US HDTV penetration is still only at 11 million households. Lots of people are perfectly content with smaller screens than you or I would be.

    There will always be a lot of people who will buy the DVD series no matter what, but it’s important that ABC find out how representative a group that is, rather than risk one of the biggest revenue generators to come to the television industry in the last 20 years.

    By Jackson Wilkinson on May 30, 2006 8:57 pm

  9. I think it’s good that they (TV studios and the like) are trying to find new ways to deliver content. I love innovation. I am from the want it right now generation and I want my media my way. The real problem is I can only view the shows on the computer. To be a viable solution it has to be taken out of the office and onto the plasma.

    By Settripn1 on May 31, 2006 11:51 pm

  10. I found out about the free streams when I missed one of the Lost episodes. It does get annoying having to get up from my bed to press the continue button after commercials, but I don’t mind because commercials on tv are much longer.

    By Mackarus on June 6, 2006 10:52 am

  11. What size screen you using where you can view them on your bed?

    By Scrivs on June 8, 2006 6:06 am

  12. [...] Original post by Scrivs and software by Elliott Back Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

    By Cape Tech Herald » Blog Archive » ABC Almost Gets It on July 8, 2006 9:49 am

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