It is hard to beat the Hulu or Netflix experience for computer-based viewing, and the iTunes experience for downloading video, but Amazon Video on Demand service is going to try it.
Amazon offers streams of TV shows and movies that can be either rented or bought. Those movies can also be ported to TiVo or Windows PC. This idea comes after Amazon Unbox downloading service.
NBC continues putting TV shows online before premiers
For the third consecutive year, NBC is making new series available online a week before their network premiers. You can find series like “Knight Rider”, “Chuck”, “My Worst Enemy” and “30 Rock”, among others, everywhere you look: NBC Website, iTunes, Amazon’s Unbox, Xbox, Zune, Hulu, and through TV providers such as Comcast, Cox, Charter, Dish, and Verizon FIOS.
“We want to make programs available in as many ways as we can so can get fans”, NBC’s marketing boss says.
Experts don’t agree weather NBC’s early-release strategy helps or hurts a show’s chance for success. It can build positive word of mouth or it can spread the news that a show is a dog.
TheWB.com video site resurrects WB television brand
Warner Brothers is turning on TheWB.com, resurrecting its defunct WB television brand. This video site is rich on content of old programs such as “Friends”, “The OC”, “Veronica Mars”, or “Gilmore Girls”. It will also feature a number of made for the Web programs.
TheWB.com features an interface that needs a bit of work. It does not have the clean, easy to navigate interface of Hulu, its immediate competitor.
Blogs geo-located in free maps
Neighborhood blogs are becoming more and more attractive for media companies as well as advertisers. Therefore, interesting tools are being offered. A good sample is Outside.in, which launched a toolkit for geo-tag the posts, as well as a map that plots most recent stories by location.
Politico.com provides news stories and shares revenues
The new politics site Politico.com has teamed with Adify ad management platform to share its online and in print reporting for newspaper with a revenue share. Some news outlets are cancelling their AP service, and at the same time adopting this new idea. Rather than having to pay for a wire service to get political news, papers like Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, get the benefit of using Politico’s contents while making money on ads they don’t have to sell.
The Politico.com Network will sell national advertising to be placed on partners’ website, and revenue from those ads will be shared between Poliitico and the media outlets.
Multi-stream broadcast for NFL
In the first regular season NFL broadcasted on NBC as well as streamed live on NBCSports.com. You can select from four different camera angles, track live stats, submit questions and even watch replays along the way. Here is a sample .
