NBC Direct: Why Designing Consumer Entertainment Services By Committee Is A Dumb Idea

from the i-know,-we'll-make-it-suck dept

Mon, Nov 12th 2007 11:08pm — Mike Masnick

Even as NBC is working with Fox on their "Hulu" online video effort, the company, which has shown a stunning lack of understanding of the trends and economics it faces, has launched its NBC Direct video download offering that is noteworthy only for the amount of scorn being heaped upon it from almost every reviewer out there. It appears to have made every single mistake in the book. Limited only to Windows users with IE, draconian DRM, bizarre policies that make the content expire quickly and, of course, clunky software that's difficult to set up and use. Excellent work. Perhaps if NBC spent a little less time worrying about poor corn farmers and a little more on actually providing a product that people wanted, it would get somewhere. Instead, it seems pretty clear that Jeff Nolan is exactly right in describing what happened here. NBC Direct was designed by committee. A bunch of different groups had their say and wanted to make sure this or that "feature" (i.e., "restriction") got added, so as not to interfere with some other plan. None of those people were concerned about the overall product or (gasp!) the customer experience. So what you get is a totally unusable (and, really, who would want to?) service that was a total waste of time and effort by NBC. And, this is the company that's blaming Apple for destroying the entertainment business? Compare NBC's approach to how Apple designs its products, with a strict focus on how it will be used by the consumer. For all the blame NBC is throwing at Apple, it might want to take a look at itself first.

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Filed Under: design by committee, tv downloads

11 Comments

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The Swiss Cheese Monster, 13 Nov 2007 @ 1:04am

To be fair
It is fun to blame Apple for failure.
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dorpus, 13 Nov 2007 @ 1:11am

Apple doesn't use committees?
So how does Apple "listen to its customers"? Are we sure there are no customer committees? Could it be that customers are diverse, and listening to all of them would create a totally unusable product that nobody wants?
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Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com, 13 Nov 2007 @ 2:19am

Only when they deserve it
You mean like making a product that has a battery you can't replace? I'm sure that design decision came from customer surveys that they used.
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Todd Jensen, 13 Nov 2007 @ 5:10am

I think More Like...
Having downloads that you can watch on your portable player, being able to keep your content after you download it, the ability to play the content on existing software.

There is really no reason to use NBC's new service. Might as well just watch the regular streaming version.
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WarOtter (profile), 13 Nov 2007 @ 5:40am

A character in HellGate says it best
One of the NPC's in HellGate: London says it best-

'When you mod my equipment, it MAY explode. That's a fuckin feature!'
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EF, 13 Nov 2007 @ 6:03am

You Apple bashers are missing the point
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Deirdre, 13 Nov 2007 @ 6:34am

The Browser/OS thing
I'm actually watching a Bionic Woman episode right now on Ubuntu and Firefox. The site does say I have to have IE. Maybe NBC doesn't know there are other browsers and operating systems.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 13 Nov 2007 @ 7:18am

Re: The Browser/OS thing
I tried to watch Heroes with Firefox but it wouldn't do it until I disabled Adblock. It would get locked on the video ad that plays before the feature starts. It worked fine after that, just took thirty extra seconds to load the five banner ads on the page.
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Matt, 13 Nov 2007 @ 8:01am

At least they are trying
I know that NBC has a long way to go and I am not denying that their download service lacks credibility but at least they are attempting to offer free video via the internet.
It is pretty hard to turn around a 50-60 year old company in such a short time (I know some will respond that TV via the internet has been around for a long time but I am speaking in relative terms).
I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize but at least pay lip service to the fact that NBC is trying.
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Sean C., 13 Nov 2007 @ 2:10pm

Re: At least they are trying
I agree that NBC is making a good step forward to making their content available. I have not yet gotten an invitation to Hulu, but I can go to NBC Direct and watch an entire episode with my Firefox browser. I still wish that NBC and WB would get their act together so that we could legally watch an ER episode that we miss (stupid Gray's Anatomy being 1:07 long now!).
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mlisaoverdrive, 16 Nov 2007 @ 11:57am

Re: I think More Like...
Except for the fact that NBC's streaming version is horrible, what with its craptacular player and kludgey ad viewer that forces you to re-set video options each and every time they show a commercial.
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