NBC Universal Likes To Keep Its Head In The Sand About People Watching TV Online

from the it's-all-a-big-urban-legend dept

While NBC Universal has done a decent job with Hulu, the video streaming site it partially owns, the company still seems to be pretty tone deaf to where the market is heading. Reporter Laura Holson told NBC Universal's president of research, Alan Wurtzel that she had ditched her TV and now watches TV solely via her computer, and his response indicates an unwillingness to believe that such things really happen:

"I hear about people like you," he said, a hint of skepticism in his voice. "But the notion that people have forsaken watching cable and network television is an urban myth."

Then he hissed what sounded vaguely like an insult.

"You probably read."

Yet, it is happening more and more often as it becomes easier than ever to watch TV online. And, that trend is only going to continue, thanks to new technologies and services such as Boxee.

In the end, this is something of an Innovator's Dilemma issue. Yes, the number of folks watching TV via their computers is still quite small, it's getting easier and easier to do so, and the offerings are getting better and better. At some point, the line of "good enough" is crossed, and people start flooding to that offering, and away from the older, more expensive offering. NBC Universal may be brushing off the early adopters as something to sneer at, but it's making a huge mistake if it thinks such things will remain on the fringe.

Filed Under: alan wurtzel, innovator's dilemma, internet, tv, video
Companies: nbc universal

Another YouTube Speeder Found Not Guilty Due To Lack Of Evidence

from the be-careful-when-you-speed-and-youtube dept

It seems that it's becoming somewhat common for police to scour YouTube for videos of people filming themselves speeding. However, at the same time, we're seeing at least a few of the tickets handed out for such YouTube speeding thrown out. The latest is over in the UK, where a guy charged with speeding due to a YouTube video has been found not guilty because there's not enough evidence that he was the one actually driving the car -- or that the car was really traveling at the speed shown on the speedometer. This doesn't mean that folks posting their speeding videos on YouTube won't still be fined, but it appears that (at least in the UK) courts are making sure that there's enough actual evidence there to make the fines stick.

Filed Under: fines, speeding, tickets, uk, video
Companies: youtube

How To Do Advertising On YouTube: Make It Awesome

from the content-equals-advertising dept

In the past, as we've talked about how advertising is content and content is advertising, we've pointed out that many folks who worry about "advertising" on YouTube are missing out on the fact that the YouTube videos are advertising themselves. But, of course, with millions and millions of videos on YouTube, it helps to do something special. Our own Tim Lee sent over this example of a YouTube video about a Nintendo Wii game that's worth watching in its entirety, just to see what happens. Can't say much more about it, other than that you should watch the whole thing. It acts as fantastic content and fantastic advertising in a single shot -- without "overlays" or "prerolls" or anything like that. It's yet another example of how a YouTube video fits in when people recognizes that content is advertising... and advertising is content.

Filed Under: advertising, content, video, wii
Companies: google, nintendo, youtube

How To Respond To Criticism: EA's Tiger Woods Walks On Water Ad

from the nice-shot dept

In an age where anyone can speak up, and anyone can criticize you, the first reaction of many folks is to hit back hard -- even trying to take down critical info. As we all know, that's exactly the wrong thing to do. But, it's still quite difficult to turn something that's negative into a positive quite as well as video game company EA just did. Mathew Ingram has the details, but basically, when last year's version of EA's Tiger Woods golfing game came out, some users made a video jokingly pointing out that a glitch in the game allows Tiger Woods to stand in the middle of a water trap and take a shot: With this year's version coming out, EA actually took that video as inspiration for a new ad, "responding" to that video, by showing that it wasn't a "glitch" at all, but that Tiger really can walk on water and hit a golf ball: Now that's a good response to some criticism.

Filed Under: advertising, criticism, golf, response, tiger woods, video, walk on water
Companies: ea

Patent Battle Brewing Over Videotaping Stars Signing Autographs

from the can't-make-this-stuff-up dept

Reuters is running an article about the launch of a new company, Live Autographs, which has stars like William Shatner (who's an investor in the company) signing autographs for customers, while filming a short video of the signature. As part of the video the stars are supposed to say aloud something in reference to what they're signing. It's basically no different than standing in line to get an autograph and telling the person what you want them to sign -- except that it takes place over the internet, and the end result is both the signed product and the video. Who knows if it's a good idea or not, but given the lengths some people will go (or the amount they'll pay) to get an autograph, it's hardly a surprising extension of the autograph industry.

But, don't tell that to one guy. Over at TechCrunch, Mike Arrington not only shows the William Shatner video he requested, but also publishes a message from another company that claims Live Autographs is stealing his intellectual property. Yes, this guy is trying to patent the idea of signing autographs remotely and filming the results. It's still in the application stage, which you can see right here. Of course, you can't sue over a patent that hasn't yet been issued, so the guy doesn't have much of a complaint yet. But, seriously? Trying to patent filming people signing autographs?

Filed Under: autographs, patents, video
Companies: live autographs

NBC Admits It Was Wrong To Worry About Online Olympics Watching Cannibalizing TV Viewing

from the who-woulda-thunk-it? dept

NBC Universal has a long history of totally misunderstanding the relationship between online video and TV video. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary (including from NBC's own competitor, CBS, which was quick to point out that more online watching resulted in more TV watching), NBC has insisted that online watching somehow cannibalizes TV viewers. That explains why its online Olympics offerings are so weak -- not showing any of the really interesting stuff until many hours after its been broadcast on TV.

Amazingly, NBC execs seem to actually be admitting they made a pretty big mistake here. In going over their own research, they're finally realizing that rather than cannibalizing, people watching on either TV or online only seems to get them to watch more of the other, as it just makes them more interested in the Olympics as a whole. Of course, given how NBC has behaved in the past, don't expect it to recognize this in other parts of its business (or, say, start broadcasting stuff online before the tape delay on TV). Also, don't expect it to realize that perhaps its lawsuit against Redlasso is totally misguided, even though Redlasso helps more people see NBC content online.

Filed Under: cannibalize, internet, olympics, tv, video
Companies: nbc universal

Is It Really Big News That TV Folks Have Discovered The Internet?

from the only-if-to-note-that-it-sure-took-them-long-enough dept

A few weeks ago, there was a lot of buzz around Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a short series of internet video, created by director Joss Whedon, and using a few well-known actors. We had a ton of people submit it, and the press went nuts over it. While I actually enjoyed the videos, I had a difficult time understanding why this was big news. Plenty of people create online videos -- some more professional than others. About the only thing that could be said for the story was "A few TV people discover the internet... years after everyone else."

And yet, now we're seeing more stories along those lines. The NY Times notes how a bunch of Saturday Night Live writers and cast members spent the summer creating their own comedy short video as well, and the story is basically the same: TV people discover the internet. In both cases, the push wasn't that "hey, the internet is actually a good platform for video" but the silly writers' strike had them bored, so they focused on creating stuff for the internet.

Again, I'm not entirely sure why this is seen as a big deal. TV people recognize what plenty of others have recognized for years, and it's suddenly newsworthy? If anything, the news peg here is that it sure has taken these TV folks a long time to realize that producing content for the internet makes sense.

Filed Under: internet, professional content, tv, video

Italian Media Company Mediaset Joins In On The Fun: Sues YouTube

from the come-on,-everyone-join-in dept

While we all wait for the outcome of Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit against YouTube, it appears that some other media companies aren't waiting around. Italian media firm MediaSet, which just so happens to be owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has sued YouTube and Google for $779 million (almost as much as Viacom is suing for!). MediaSet claims that the 4,643 videos on YouTube that infringe on its copyrights have cost it 315,700 viewer days. Apparently, MediaSet prefers not to take into consideration (a) that most videos on YouTube are limited to under 10 minutes, meaning that it's a poor replacement for watching on TV and (b) that people who watch on YouTube aren't necessarily people who would have watched it on TV and (c) that folks who watch something on YouTube may, in turn, be convinced to watch a show on TV that they wouldn't have watched otherwise. Why bother with little pesky details like that when you can just sue a huge company that has a lot of cash. Given that the Italian government is already trying to put Google execs in jail over some YouTube videos, this looks like a larger Italian campaign against YouTube in general.

Filed Under: copyright, italy, liability, video, youtube
Companies: google, mediaset, youtube

Putting Metadata In Video For Search Purposes? Patented! Microsoft Sued

from the it-never-ends dept

The last time we wrote about a small company called Gotuit Media, it was in 2003, when the company was suing TiVo for an excessively broad patent about recording TV while playing back TV concurrently. Apparently, the company is still in the business of suing other companies that are putting obvious ideas into practice. For example, it's now suing Microsoft over its implementation of Silverlight-based videos for the Olympics on NBC's website. Microsoft's crime? Apparently the videos are going to include some metadata that will make them searchable, allowing users to search and find specific content. And, that, according to Gotuit, is patent infringement.

Of course, that's ridiculous. If you were to tackle the problem of how to create a search engine for video, one of the first things just about any competent programmer would think of is adding text metadata to the video that would then be used for search. But, thanks to the patent system, apparently you can only do that if you've agreed to pay Gotuit a licensing fee.

Filed Under: metadata, online video, silverlight, video
Companies: gotuit, microsoft

And You Thought The Next Generation Video Standards Battle Was Over?

from the we've-got-a-new-one-coming-on dept

If you thought the questions about what technology standard we'd be using to watch movies was settled when Blu-ray won the next generation DVD standards battle, then you're in for a bit of a surprise. In taking nearly half a decade to decide which standard would make it, the DVD camps left open plenty of opportunity for online competitors to start making their moves. The technology for delivering movies online has been rapidly improving. But, of course, what we didn't count on was that it would just create a huge new mess.

Earlier this week, there was all sorts of talk about Netflix streaming movies to the Xbox as part of Netflix's effort to get consumer electronics companies to build in support for Netflix streaming. As we warned when that announcement was made, it's a bad idea for Netflix to focus on a proprietary streaming solution, as it's only going to set up another standards battle. And, indeed, Blockbuster is working on its own such solution. Then, of course, everyone knows that Apple's in the market with the AppleTV. And don't forget Sony, which is selling a special (extra expensive) TV for downloading movies. And, of course, there are countless startups in the market as well.

Oh, and how could we forget Amazon? The company is now announcing its own proprietary online store for streaming movies and TV. This one piggybacks a bit on Sony's awful plan (meaning if you buy that super expensive internet-connected TV, you'll also be able to stream movies from Amazon).

But the end result is a total mess for the entire market, and that doesn't help anyone. All of the players should take a look at how badly the multi-year DVD standards battle hurt the industry. It makes people unwilling to buy certain hardware, as they don't want to be stuck with the "loser" a year from now. What's wrong with coming up with a single standard for streaming movies from any particular service to various TV-connected devices and computers? Then let the different providers compete on actual services provided? That would increase adoption, and let these companies do what they do best, rather than fighting a can't-win battle against too many other competitors.

Filed Under: movies, next generation, online video, standards, streaming, television, video
Companies: amazon, apple, blockbuster, microsoft, netflix, sony