terrible experience watching video on NBC.com
The network sites could learn a thing or two from Youtube, Vimeo, etc. These sites make it so easy to watch video that I don’t even have to think much about what I’m doing. Contrast that with NBC (I’m trying to catch up on The Office). NBC’s site seems tailored for advertisers, not consumers, which is a major problem for both.
Here are a few problems with the site:
- It’s not easy: it took me forever to figure out what episode I wanted to watch, and I couldn’t finish one episode and go to the next
- It’s not intuitive: since NBC is promoting so much stuff (BIO, behind the scenes, etc.) it is not easy to find anything, let alone the episode for which I was looking
- It’s not quality: some of the video I watched appeared stretched, as if they threw it on the site last minute, and the commercial breaks weren’t synced up well (a snippet would start and then break to commercial)
The reason this is the case is obvious: advertising pays for the content on NBC; therefore, everything is tailored toward getting more ad dollars. I can’t find things quickly. No problem for NBC because I then click on more pages and “view” more ads. The video isn’t quality. No problem for NBC as it will make me want to watch The Office on my TV instead, where NBC will receive much more money for its advertising.
But, NBC should be making their site experience as intuitive and consumer friendly as possible to build loyalty, especially given the fact that NBC content will be (and is) all over the Internet, not just on NBC. This fact makes it even more important for NBC to cherish the consumer experience, not neglect it for a short-sited run at online advertising profit. How online video is consumed will be as important as the content itself, especially when the content is available from multiple sources (netflix, joost, nbc.com, etc.). It’s the only point of difference.
