ABC working with Veoh
supersecretdownlowhollywoodradar:
After holding back on joining Hulu, ABC signed a deal with Veoh to make full episodes of prime time shows available on veoh.com… Users who discover a show on Veoh will actually pull up ABC’s own player to watch the video with pre-sold ads.
Dipshit old media move, ABC. Way to think that through. Instead of using an extrememly popular, successful, proven service to distribute your content online, you opt to go with a relatively unpopular video service to link to the content that you’re already failing to showcase on your website.
How well do you think that strategy works out for the shows that link out of Hulu (see Psych, or older episodes of TBS shows, for examples) do? They fucking don’t. Networks have had video players in their own websites for years. Nobody used them because they were poorly executed. Linking to your pre-existing bullshit player is not going to do a damn thing for online viewership of Ugly Betty.
ABC, pull your head out of your proprietary ass and get with the times. This is a halfhearted move, and you’re not going to have anything to show for it.
Great rant, and totally true. I know I’m perhaps just a little biased, but I was having a similar discussion/argument with a friend/former Page who works at ABC about their company not joining Hulu a few months ago. The fact that ABC is making this move now is even more fail.
Hulu is doing extremely well, and Viacom (via Comedy Central) is starting to “get it” as well. Which means seeing CBS programming (along with MTV, VH1, etc) on Hulu sometime soon wouldn’t surprise me too much. Let’s hope so!
the problem with all of these brands who (try desperately) to start their own networks/communities is that they think their brand actually matters.
i don’t watch abc.
i watch lost.
i don’t watch nbc.
i watch the office.
i don’t watch cw.
…
so it seems that the problem is not only with corporate ego, but research. any worthwhile research would have told them that users ostensibly don’t care who gives them the content as long as they get it. so, abc: get over yourself.
