Jeff Jarvis Calls ABC's TV On The Net Move Seismic. I Agree
Cue Carol King’s I Feel The Earth Move.
ABC/Disney has jumped the starting pistol and will be offering TV shows over the Internet free (with non-skippable advertising.) Jeff Jarvis calls this “seismic” and says “TV has finally exploded.” I’d have to agree. Yes there’s advertising, yes there are some conditions, but this signals some big changes in the air that we’ve been sniffing all along.
Several interesting points.
- ABC/Disney was first on the iTunes video bandwagon. You won’t have to pay the iTunes freight for the package the way I’m reading this. Who’s that new large Disney shareholder?
- From what I’ve read the non-skippable commericals will start out having the show of choice wrapped around the ads from a single advertister. Are we moving back to a time when programs had signature sponsors for an entire show? Not a bad thing, but very interesting.
- From a content point, wouldn’t it be fascinating if this became a way to launch new entertainment content? Viral Internet marketing has certainly been moving forward with film and other mediums. Can you imagine new shows being tried out on the Net and building a following, rather than moving the already established hits to the Net? This whole “new” approach obviously features targeted advertising as a key component. Much easier to target the content as well as the advertising. Could this lead to, dare I say, more creative entertainment choices down the line, as opposed to the continual TV retreads?
Seismic indeed.
