Wright of Way

Monday, March 13, 2006

The Peacock Erects an Iron Curtain

In a previous post, I wrote about how NBC, in its infinite wisdom, took down the "Lazy Sunday" and "Natalie Raps" SNL shorts off YouTube. Well today I read in MediaPost that NBC has now decided to take back all its clips and put them on NBC.com. The rationale on the site is:

"Now, instead of searching the web for 'borrowed' NBC highlights, you can go to the source! We've taken your viral favorites and gathered them into one convenient location. Watch. React. Tell a friend."

OK, so I give it to NBC for putting everything in a place where you can watch everything at once, but they're missing the whole point. You can't control and force rich media marketing, and espeically viral video.

Viral is by its very definition organic and wild and free. This is more like erecting an iron curtain.

This is great for people who know about SNL, who know about NBC.com and who will take the time to search for the video clips on the Peacock's site. But the real value in having the video out on the web - morphing and growing and spreading to other sites and driving interest for NBC content.

I think NBC needs to use tried and true broadband marketing strategies and concentrate on making a stronger connection between its content and the network brand instead of putting all the content under an iron curtain on NBC.com. Give SNL to the people and let it grow stronger than any marketing exec could ever hope to.


Technorati Tags: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home